THE MANDALORIAN: Chapter 9 - 16
by YborJen
Summary: After the end of Chapter 8, Din Djarin goes to Mandalore to try to learn more about how to contact the Jedi. Back on Nevarro Cara Dune finds evidence Gideon survived and imprisoned Paz and the Tribe. The Child's powers are increasing but Gideon knows the weaknesses of the Mandalorians he oppressed under Imperial rule... Completed story, posting chapter by chapter as they are edited
1. Chapter 9 - THE RETURN

CHAPTER 9: THE RETURN

The Mandalorian set his course and the ship surged as the familiar hypnotic streaks of hyperspace flowed into view. He always felt relief each time they entered hyperspace even though he never really trusted anywhere was safe. Even since the threat on Nevarro was destroyed he still felt uneasy, partly because he was still not completely healed, in more ways than one.

His body ached, in every direction. He prided himself on quick recoveries, and near indestructibility. But his brush with death a week ago had broken down many of his ideas of who he thought he was. He had faced for the first time in his life that his mortality was catching up to him, sooner rather than later. And that meant something now that he had a Child who needed him. He remembered his father figure going through the same process. And as the older man slowed down, he had watched with pride as Din found himself coming up as the most impressive fighter in the Death Watch corps. Well, him and Paz, of course.

His training fights with Paz were legendary in their Clan. Clan Vizsla prided themselves in keeping the strongest Foundlings. And Din, while physically smaller, was faster and smarter to match Paz' brute force. They built a friendship and respect over the years, and when their mother was executed and their father died in the conflict they were hunted and forced to flee by their Clan in order to preserve the future, and Paz left Mandalore with Din until they found the Tribe.

His heart ached. The Tribe was now gone, and so was Paz. They had fought over Din's bounty hunter activities, Paz never approved of the questionable moral code of killing people who did not deserve death. Din asserted that anyone who runs is guilty. In hindsight, Paz could not have been more right. They had reconciled with Din reclaiming his honor in Paz' eyes the night he rescued the Child. His guilt at the following destruction of the Tribe, however, weighed heavier than even his new mission.

His heart also had new holes where friends were now gone. They had given their lives so that his aching body could continue to safeguard the Child. Every time he felt he might lose his temper, he heard Kuiil in his mind reminding him to reinforce with patience. And every time he took off his helm and looked at the mirror, he thought about what IG-11 had seen with his synthetic eyes. Had he seen what Din now saw? These days he barely recognized the man he was before he met the Child.

His head ached and his brow furrowed as he continued to second guess the course he had laid in the navigation. The Armorer had said she knew of old tales of battles between the Mandalorians and the Child's kind — the Jedi. His only lead then was to find those tales. He had to return to Mandalore. He had not returned since the Purge, and for the past ten years had been so focused on survival that he never even considered looking back. Now, with mind, body and heart still recovering from the battle on Nevarro, he was about to reopen old wounds.

A soft beep on the comm caught his eye and made his heart jump with more of the same uneasy feeling that had been nagging him. He turned back to the ops station and found the Child asleep in the seat with the Mythosaur skull still in his mouth, covered in drool. Then he turned back to the console and pressed the blinking button.

A ghostly holoprojection of Cara Dune appeared and Din found he was holding his breath as he stared at her face.

"Hey Mando — checking in on you as planned. This week Greef and I have confirmed the few remaining Imps are on the run, but I will feel better once the new militia has cleared every building in the city. Once that's done we will check in with the Jawas and start cleaning up this place. Greef is setting up the Cantina as his base of operation, so contact us there at this signal. You should see him. You'd think he was already Mayor, General, and Senator of Nevarro." She could not contain a chuckle. "Listen, do me a favor and give yourself a quick medscan. It will put me at ease to know you're physically capable to take care of the Kid, OK? As agreed, I expect a response within two days, even just an acknowledgement with your code if that's all you can do. If you fail to respond we are coming after you. Stay safe, buddy."

Cara had a small smile on her lips then dropped her eyes as she reached down to close the comm channel message, and Mando felt a slight clench in his stomach when her image fizzled out. He pushed down that feeling and turned back to the Child who was now soundly snoring and the Mythosaur skull was hanging out of his mouth.

Din gritted his teeth and took in a sharp breath to avoid making any sounds as the pain caused a tear to form in the corner of his eye. He knew if he stood up his message would be more convincing. His last medscan was less than encouraging, he was healing, but not nearly as quickly as he had hoped. From the blast and fall he had multiple fractures of his ribs, vertebrae and torn sacral ligaments, and fluid on his bruised lungs. IG-11 had healed his skull fracture and subarachnoid bleed from the fall but the concussion was still affecting him daily. And he also had a healing torn rotator cuff from his stunt on the TIE fighter.

His first stop after they left Nevarro was to acquire some bacta so he could start infusions. It took every ounce of his infusions to keep healing fast enough to convince the Child he did not need to intervene. IG was right about his wounds healing in a matter of hours, but there were just so many wounds that the hours kept adding up… and there wasn't a chance he would ever tell Dune any of that.

He caught his breath again as he straightened up and then composed himself and pressed the comm button.

"Dune, good to hear from you, and that Greef is already setting himself up as the new emperor. Medscan is improving. We have a new heading. I will send encoded coordinates so you can monitor our progress. Please confirm the Armorer is safe and if any others of the Tribe —have returned." His voice wavered as a shock of pain jolted through his ribs. "The Kid is asleep, so I'll keep this short. Djarin, out." He reached for the comm button and closed the channel quickly before catching himself on the console and taking long, slow breaths.

He looked at the hyperspace navigation timer, he had just enough time for a quick infusion. He had to get it started before the kid woke up. He moved carefully down the ladder leaving the cockpit door open so he could hear any movement. The quiet snores were reassuring. He had to stop a couple of times to catch his breath, but his focus was unwavering. His kit came with an infusion port which made his hookup simple, so he just had to remove his armor and expose his shin where the port was drilled into his bone.

Once the line was set in place he decided to lay back on his sleep cot just for a few minutes.

* * *

He woke with a start, but there was a warm spot at his side were the Child had clearly moved to sleep with him and he was snoring again. He looked up at the bacta bag and found it was empty and he was actually feeling less pain around his head, shoulder and ribs. He flexed his abdominal muscles and self-corrected as he groaned to sit up — there was _less_ pain.

The Child immediately stirred and yawned loudly. He looked up at Din and sleepily blinked then chirped with a questioning tone.

"I'm feeling better, kid. Thanks for keeping me company." He picked up the bag and showed it to the Child. "See? This will help fix me up."

The Child cocked his head slightly, as if unconvinced.

"Tough audience. Come on, let's check on our course." He gingerly moved himself off the sleep bench and then tucked the Child into his arm with the bad shoulder and with the other pulled himself up just high enough up the ladder to deposit the Child up on the command deck, then climbed up the rest of the way with both arms.

Every time, the kid made a beeline to the controls and Din had enough practice to stay just far enough ahead of him to scoop him up and deposit him back into his seat before he could drop them out of hyperspace into a black hole. The Child whined with a squeaky pout but admitted defeat again.

Din checked the timer and found they had just under ten minutes left in hyperspace. Then he noticed he had another message. He frowned. And his finger actually shook just a little as he reached for the blinking button.

The ghostly image of Cara Dune appeared again, "This message is for the Kid. Hey Kid, please do me a favor and tell your _father_ to try putting on a brave face for someone who isn't an idiot. Miss you Kid. Take care of him for me. I'll report back on the Armorer when I have made contact."

She disappeared, and this time her image was not smiling. Din's head bowed slightly. He should have waited to reply after the infusion.

Then he looked up at the Child who was returning his gaze. "We've got each other's backs, Kid. We are going to be OK."

The Child giggled and reached a small three claw hand toward him. Din reached out with his finger and the Child grabbed it and squeezed.

The hyperdrive now started beeping, they were approaching their destination. Din set the Child back in his seat and then turned to the controls. With years of experience he eased the Razor Crest out of hyperspace just early enough to avoid alerting of the old Outer Defense perimeter. He had heard that it was back in force and he did not want to start off this encounter with a fight.

He flipped his universal local transmission switch, "Outer Defense, Outer Defense, this is Razor Crest requesting permission to approach."

No response.

"Outer Defense, Outer Defense, do you copy?"

Another long beat, Din's heart began to quicken.

"This is the Outer Defense, please repeat your sign," the deep voice on the other end sounded suspicious.

Din sighed relief, but also pursed his lips. His ship should be known to the Outer Defense database. They were no doubt scanning him to confirm — it was the ship Paz and he had taken off Mandalore.

"This is the Razor Crest. Repeat, the Razor Crest."

There was another short pause. "Clan Vizsla celebrates your return Paz."

Din swallowed hard, "Negative, Outer Defense control, this is Din Djarin. My brother Paz — his location is unknown."

There was another heavy silence. "Din Djarin, Clan Vizsla celebrates your return. The foundlings are the future. Proceed to the Vizsla Landing and report to your Clan for the Rebuilding. Welcome home."

Mixed emotions filled Din hearing these words, but all he said was, "Acknowledged."

Coordinates were sent for his heading, and he did not recognize it. The Vizsla compound was no doubt destroyed in the Purge. Din put the Razor Crest on autopilot and then reached back to pick up the Child so he could see everything on their approach to his new home.

"See this Kid? This is your new adopted home. Mandalore."

The Child looked all around with wide eyes as they passed the Outer Defense in the meteor belt and made their way towards the brown planet with swirling white clouds. As they moved closer, patches of green were visible surrounding interconnected small lakes of blue below. It looked like a small part of the eco-system was reasserting itself. He desperately wished that Paz was there with him to see the planet slowly coming back to life.

The ship moved into orbit and then began the gentle descent to the ruins of the Capital city, Sundari. He recognized many destroyed landmarks, many historic locations lost to future generations. They passed the old palace of the Prime Minister and the Representatives which looked like it was being rebuilt. The square of statues, however, which previously held colossi of Mandalorian history was now full of rubble.

The other thing he noticed as they moved closer to the large squares was he could see hundreds of people, some with helmets, but mostly without. He knew that the Way was not widely observed, and mostly within the military, but it still felt jarring to him to see so many Mandalorians without helms. Living normal lives. His entire life since the Clone Wars had been about survival and protecting the safety of others. His life was the Way, but life went on outside the Way. And that was as it should be; it was what he should be fighting for.

Then he realized that the ship was aimed toward the old headquarters of the Chancellor of Defense. He smiled to himself. Clan Vizsla had come home. The Death Watch was the highest level Defense Squadron of Mandalore before they split from the pacifist government. He was happy they had been restored to their honorable mission.

The Razor Crest set down on the first landing pad and Din started shutting down all systems. The Child, however, could not contain his excitement and immediately jumped down from his seat on Din's lap and started toward the ladder.

"Wait! KID!" Din shouted as he quickly flipped switches in order. Then he rushed after the Child and found him in the sleeping bunk retrieving his blue blanket and his silver ball. Din had to laugh and sighed with relief.

"I'm ready to settle in for a while too, but let's take this one step at a time ok?" He put the ball and blanket down again on the bed, picked up the Child set him down on the ground, and then squatted down to his level.

"We have a mission. We need to find your people. And we need to find out if we have a place here if our mission to find your people fails. These people are our kin, but they respect strength." He smiled to himself. "Who am I kidding, We know you have plenty of that."

The Child looked at him thoughtfully, and then lifted up his arms. Din picked him up again and they touched foreheads and then looked at each other.

"Be brave, be careful, and stick with me, ok?"

The look the Child gave almost looked like a small smirk, and he got the distinct impression he was thinking, _I'm always brave_. He couldn't help but suspect the Child was starting to understand him.

"Let's go." He put the Child down again, and then lowered the ship's outer door.

* * *

By the time the door lowered down completely there was a greeting party already arriving on a speeder. They all wore Clan Vizsla armor, and several ancient Clan helmets, but no individuals that he specifically recognized. That did not surprise him because the Clan previously numbered in the thousands and stretched across multiple settlements. Din started to walk down the ramp and he could hear the Child walking next to him.

The female at the head of the party stepped down from the speeder and waited for them to approach her. Din walked slowly to accommodate for smaller legs and feet.

Din stopped just in front of the female and then eased down on one knee and bowed over his knee.

"Din Djarin, Foundling of Clan Vizsla. I'm reporting home because I have — a new Clan Vizsla Foundling. I also must report that Paz Vizsla is currently — missing. He was lost on Nevarro when former Imperials attacked, but the Tribe reports that he may have escaped off-world."

The female stepped forward and reached down to Din's pauldron and ran her fingers over his sigil. Then placed a hand on top of Din's helmet.

"Din Djarin, House Vizsla rejoices in your return. Clan Vizsla's losses were among the heaviest. Clan Wren was nearly decimated. And Clan Saxon has failed to make restitution. The Foundlings are the future. Rise, Din Djarin."

Din looked up and stood before her, and gestured to the Child standing by his leg.

"This is my Foundling. He did not have any identification when I found him. He does not yet understand the Way. We come before you seeking his acceptance in the Clan, and for him to be named."

The female nods, "Of course. What significance is the sigil?"

Din nodded back. "The Child and I fought the Mudhorn together. He used his mind to hold the Mudhorn back long enough for me to kill it. He saved my life, and then I saved him from the Empire."

The entire party on the speeder now turned their helmets towards the Child. He looked back at them with large black eyes and squeaked, but then he puffed up his chest a little proudly. Din was happy his smile was hidden by his helm.

The female looked back at Din and nodded again. "We will find an appropriate name for this impressive show of strength from one so small." She cocked her head. "Do you intend to train him?"

Din shook his head, "The Foundling is in my care but he would not survive the training. I must find his own kind, or find someone who can train him to use his powers — as a Jedi."

Every person on the pad froze at the mention of that Order. Din could barely comprehend how he had never heard of them before if so many Mandalorians knew of them. The female had frozen as well but now recovered her composure.

"Come, let us discuss this mission in more detail — inside."

She turned and stepped back onto the speeder. Din motioned for the Child to follow, then Din was the last to board. The whole ride inside the structure he could feel the eyes of the entire party on him and he could feel the Child next to him inching closer to him nervously. But Din was proud he stood his ground and did not cower or hide under his cape.

The speeder stopped inside the compound at a grand door with high arches that once held stained glass. Four of the Mandalorians stepped out and took posts next to this door. Then the female stepped off and led the way through the door and down a stately hallway for Din and the Child to follow. She did not walk slowly, so Din picked up the Child and he rode on his shoulder. Din walked a little slower as he looked around and hid his stiff joints from the others. The female stopped outside a large office and waited for them to walk inside.

Once inside two others of the entourage stopped to stand guard and she closed the doors and turned to face them. Her helmet had accents of gold and white, and the eyes came out to a wider point compared to the Armorer. She was taller, as tall as Paz, and carried all of the authority expected in his Clan.

"Din Djarin, I am Zaral Vizsla. I am Paz Vizsla's cousin — and yours. Your father, my mother's younger brother, as you know, died during the Purge. Your father saved many Foundlings, you are among only four to complete the training, and you are the only one to return after the Purge."

Din felt his legs going slightly weak as the weight of this information set in.

"Then... you do not know of Paz's whereabouts?"

Zaral shook her head. "He has not yet returned. You were the last to see him alive."

"I was not. The leader of the Tribe on Nevarro, the Armorer, she saw him when the Imperials attacked. He was last seen during the assault. He was among many that disappeared and were assumed escaped — or captured." He finished quietly. To be captured would mean death.

Zaral nodded. "We must make contact with the Armorer then. We must continue to bring our sisters and brothers home."

Din nodded, "The Tribe as you know has no communication equipment, to prevent detection. But I have people on Nevarro that may contact her directly."

Zaral nodded, and she then turned toward the volumes of data on the shelves behind her desk and walked around behind it.

"Today, however, I'm afraid we must face an unpleasant task before we can celebrate the naming of your Foundling. We must address the issue of his apparent power in the Force."

"The Force?" Din said.

"It is the name of the power this Foundling has a connection to. It is how he lifted a Mudhorn that was ten thousand times his weight," Zaral replied.

"He also stopped a fire trooper's weapon. And he healed a Mynock venom wound."

Zaral now looked up from the data console and stood. "This Child has done all of these things?"

Din nodded, and the Child chirped in response.

Zaral stood astounded. "I have only heard legends of Jedi with such powers. Even the few left that have met our Clan cannot do all of these things, with years of training."

Din was now also stunned. "But — what does that mean for him?"

Zaral shook her head. "I do not know." She beckoned for him to move closer to the desk.

A symbol appeared on the holodisplay, one that he did not recognize. "This is the symbol of the Jedi. They were an Order of sorcerers that began untold eons ago, the Order trained those with a strong connection to the Force to use their power to protect freedom in the Galaxy from those who would dominate others.

"They grew in number and then began the discord. As with all organizations splinters began and some maintained a peaceful demeanor while others tended toward a warrior way of life. The warriors, however, became too enamored with their growing power and soon left the Order completely to grow as a new Order called the Sith. They cultivated their power in Darkness and waged war on the Jedi, nearly wiping them out. The Jedi power came from the Light and soon their numbers of recruits far surpassed the growth of the Darkness and they were victorious, destroying the Sith Temple at Moraband.

"Five thousand years ago, the Jedi Order established a Temple on Coruscant, and became advisors to a rising power that eventually became the Old Republic. But after three thousand years the Mandalore found a decline in that Republic was due to the philosophy of the Jedi, avoiding battle at all costs, and protecting weak leaders, and they came into conflict. Our weaponry was developed over millennia in order to manage battle with Jedi whose powers required no machines. We were victorious on many battle fields. Over a thousand years ago, Tarre Vizsla, a Mandalorian with an unrivaled connection to the Force, was allowed to train with the Jedi because his mother felt that the conflict must end. He became one of the fiercest warriors of the Jedi, and he created a weapon called the Dark Saber. But ultimately, due to politics on both sides, he was forced to choose. He refused to fight against his own people, and he left the Order, leading the Mandalorians against the Jedi to his death. His Dark Saber was brought back to the Jedi temple until it was stolen back by House Vizsla and used as a symbol to rule Mandalore."

Zaral turned back to Din and the Child who still sat on his shoulder with his mouth open in awe. "This story is for you both to understand what you are facing on this quest. You see before you nearly ten thousand years of history, and three thousand years of conflict with Mandalore. However, I want you both to understand that does not mean there is no hope for your Clan to bring Mandalore into a stronger future. For a member of a Clan who has such powers to heal should have a name worthy of a Jedi."

Din reached up to his shoulder and picked up the Child to set him on Zaral's desk. She reached out and placed her hand on his head.

"I name you, Tarre-Haal, the second of House Vizsla to be a Jedi warrior — and the first Jedi healer."

Din also put his hand on Tarre-Haal, who cooed, but did not move.

Din whispered, "_Ni kyr'tayl gai sa'ad_," I know your name as my child.

Zaral replied, "_Gai bal manda_," Name and soul.

When Zaral and Din removed their hands Tarre looked up at them, and Din saw in his eyes a look that said, _I'll make you proud_.

Din looked back up at Zaral, "You agree then, I should take him back to the Jedi? How am I to find them? Are they still on Coruscant?"

Zaral shook her head, "The Order was destroyed by the Emperor at the end of the Clone Wars. The fugitive Jedi were hunted during the Age of the Empire, and very few remain. However, I heard that it was two Jedi who returned the Dark Saber to House Wren before the Purge, and it was Bo-Katan of House Kryze who used it to unite Mandalore to resist the Empire, but ultimately failed."

Din had not heard of the final events on Mandalore. "So House Kryze was destroyed."

Zaral nodded, "And Bo-Katan murdered. Her nephew, Kor-Kayan, was captured and presumed dead. When the Empire fell the Governor and the Imperial Security Bureau were finally driven from the planet. And we began to rebuild."

Din leaned forward. "Who murdered Bo-Katan?"

Zaral looked back at Din, "Moff Gideon."

Din suddenly felt his breath leave him, and had to brace his hands on the desk. Tarre-Haal walked over to his father and put one hand on his arm, slowly closing his eyes.

Suddenly, Din felt a warmth spreading from his arm to his injured shoulder and up further to his head and down to his lungs. When he realized what was happening, he reached over to Tarre and placed a hand over the tiny one on his arm.

"Stop, please, Tarre. You have done enough, you need your strength." He gently pulled the tiny hand off his arm and Tarre looked up at him with his large black eyes. "Save your strength."

Din looked back to Zaral. "I am injured because I fought and killed Moff Gideon on Nevarro. His forces are in retreat as we speak."

Zaral nodded. "Your entire Clan will be told of this victory."

Din stood up again and looked her in the eye. "I will also return to that fight, but first, I must find the two Jedi. I must speak with House Wren."


	2. Chapter 10 - THE RESCUE

CHAPTER 10: THE RESCUE

Cara Dune controlled her breathing, and moved forward quickly with bent knees keeping her blaster scope pressed up against her nose and steady on the target. She was favoring the Death Trooper blaster lately, it was small enough to move into tight areas and powerful enough to get the job done — for most of her ops. And she had plenty of them after the busy week she had endured.

This outpost had been found on the last unscheduled scan of the settlements surrounding the city. Cara had a sinking feeling that the forces Gideon brought had not been completely revealed. And what bothered her more was that a man of such resources did not have a Star Destroyer over head. High level Moffs commanded entire sectors. Moff Gideon was an Imperial Security Bureau commander. Based on his specific battle prowess she suspected he was Enforcement Branch. If he truly had only a few squadrons at his disposal and a shorter range TIE-fighter then his mission was clearly not popular among the remaining Imperials. That made him a zealot, which was worse.

She held her position, her sights still on the door. Then her team moved at her signal, the charges blew the door and she led the strike team in. She screamed for all of the troopers to surrender — and they did not comply. Blaster fire and smoke filled the air and the strike team cleared the building as the snipers stopped escapees as they tried to flee.

If the Moff was a zealot, bent on retrieving the Child at the expense of all of these Storm Troopers, Death Troopers, artillery and vehicles, then he had to have an escape plan. They may have only been dropped on Nevarro to achieve their goal, but someone else had to be coming.

Sometimes exit strategies failed, the extraction team never arrived, and Imperials were stranded as the infrastructure slowly broke down after the fall of the Empire. Cara had seen planetary resistance win the day over and over again. However, failures usually happened when Imperial resources are underestimated.

Within minutes Cara continued further into the building alone, her team preoccupied with the other occupants. Yet, Following her instincts, Cara could still hear voices down the hall. As she inched closer she heard words like, "Hurry!" and "Destroy it!"

She kicked in the door and found two men in Grand Admiral uniforms destroying data tapes. She shot the Admiral by the incinerator in the chest and turned her rifle toward the other one.

"Moff Gideon is dead. Is what you're destroying really worth dying for?"

The man's hands shook, "You don't understand. Gideon cannot be killed. You tried. We tried. He doesn't die."

Cara stared at him. The man was obviously disturbed. He was sweating through his uniform.

"If you won't kill me, then he will." He dropped the disk he was holding on the floor before her. "I followed these men for fear of my life for years. The ship should have come days ago. It's over. Kill me."

Cara picked up the data tape, then looked back at the Admiral. "Not yet," she stunned him to the ground.

* * *

"It's records. Thousands and thousands of records. On all of us. Even on you." Cara put the pad down in front of the Armorer, who picked it up and started to scroll.

"This is a full manifest of the city," she said impressed.

Cara started to pace. "As part of their planning for the attack they must have evaluated us all. I'm sure they already had plenty of information on me which was easy to recall when I showed up at the city edge, but I've found Greef, all of the Guild members on Nevarro, and even what looks like nearly a FULL manifest of the Tribe — going back to records from Mandalore."

The Armorer suddenly stopped as she found the list of the Tribe names, and many of them were listed as _deceased_.

Cara caught her stunned silence and rushed over with her hands up. "Wait — look again…"

Cara typed in a code, and suddenly many, but not all, of the designations shifted, from _deceased_ — to _captured_. The Armorer looked up at Cara in awe.

"Courtesy of our one surviving Admiral of Moff Gideon. They are alive and on Moff Gideon's prison ship, still orbiting Lasan."

* * *

Din paced in the garden. He kept a watchful eye on Tarre who was playing with some of the younger children of the House. These playmates were younger and less disciplined than his friends back on Sorgen. They laughed and screamed but also sometimes did not share and even pushed each other. Tarre looked to Din to decide how to handle these interactions. But overall he enjoyed the play, and began to make some friends.

Watching over Tarre's development took Din's mind off their mission. And it gave him hope for what their future might look like if they decided to stay on Mandalore.

Din and Zaral had been trying to contact House Wren but the calls had gone unanswered. Zaral was beginning to fear that yet another Clan had been wiped out.

Mandalore was in a tenuous state. The surviving Clans were trying to craft a vision for the future. The Warrior Clans and the Peaceful Clans now were about equal in numbers. Their ways similar but old prejudices from the Era of Peace remained. Most of the Warriors still followed the Way, but the Peaceful removed their helmets when not in combat. They all revered Bo-Katan, but none could develop a majority in leadership. Decisions were made laboriously by vote. Din watched it all incredulously.

Din was not a leader or a politician. He agreed that how resources were to be used needed to be agreed upon, but the greater good was clear to him, yet apparently not to others.

He paced around the play area again watching the kids decide who would chase the others. Tarre was elected, likely because physically he was not quick on his feet. Din watched with a slight twinge in his stomach, not wanting to see his son fail at a game. _Be careful, ad'ika_.

Suddenly at the shout to begin, Tarre crouched and looked around, and hopped up in the air like a frog, and landed on the back of the largest child who was running away from him.

Tarre laughed and laughed at his victory, even as the larger child pushed him off with irritation. Yet, the larger child did concede defeat, and the prize, a sweet bread, was given to Tarre solemnly. He ate it with gusto and the kids cheered as Tarre giggled.

Din sighed in relief, and then a beep on his gauntlet startled him. He waved at Tarre to call him back.

* * *

"Zaral, Paz is listed on the captured. As well as dozens of the Tribe, and even more warriors from Mandalore going back to the occupation. This list was updated the week Moff Gideon was killed." The Armorer spoke with passion as she stood next to Cara Dune and Greef Carga.

Zaral looked over at Din who was silently listening to the story of the ambush.

Din looked back at Zaral and nodded.

"House Vizsla thanks you for the information, and we will immediately mount a rescue mission."

Cara then stepped forward, "Wait a second, this is her Clan!"

The Armorer put a hand up, "Cara Dune and I would like to accompany this rescue mission."

Zaral nodded, "Of course. This is the Way."

Greef lifted his hand up, as if to silence the room with his authority, and they all turned toward him. "I may need my chief enforcer. She has concerns that a Star Destroyer may be on its way, just behind its original schedule."

Cara sighed, "My last operation which revealed this information also gave us a high ranking officer to interrogate. He would have us believe that there was an exit strategy after Gideon had completed his mission and attained — the Asset."

Din put his hands on the holodisplay and looked directly at the Armorer and Cara. "Do you believe him?"

Cara slowly nodded, "The story fits with post-Empire protocol, however, Gideon does not appear to be entirely following post-Empire protocol. He had resources, to be sure, but they seemed limited considering his rank. I'm really not sure what awaits us. It could be over — or it could be just the beginning."

Din felt his anger rising. "This operation will be over in a matter of hours, Carga. Your Chief will be home in less than a rotation. And if you negotiate well, you could gain the support of the Mandalorian Tribe."

Carga opened his mouth to protest, but at the mention of gaining Mandalorian protection he closed his mouth and it grew into a grin.

"Agreed."

Din continued, "Give me 12 hours to outfit the Razor Crest. We will bring twelve, and adding you two will make fourteen."

A loud squeak interrupted him from behind that said, _I'm coming_.

Din turned to give Tarre a look. He knew that he had put Tarre in far more perilous situations. But his questionable parenting choices had been mostly due to desperate circumstances and no other safe options. This time they had an entire team and by comparison he was far better protected. But they also had support and a home base where he could leave Tarre. But as soon as he thought about leaving him he saw Tarre narrow his eyes at him and Din _felt_ the thought, _You swore you would protect me. I will never leave you unprotected._

Din thought,_ But if anything happened to you, I — would have nothing._

Tarre frowned._ I'm coming, I will find a way_.

Din sighed, "Fifteen."

Cara's eyes widened. "The Kid? Are you serious right now?"

Din turned back to Cara, "See you soon. Djarin, out."

* * *

Cara and the Armorer watched the Razor Crest descend in the night sky and gently touch down. It's landing lights were more a courtesy as it could land in complete darkness due to its sensors. The main hold door slowly opened up to a ramp and Cara immediately jumped up on the ramp before it had descended completely onto the ground.

Tarre ran out to her and she knelt down and nuzzled his face gently. "You did a great job. Your dad's still walking."

Din met them on the ramp and before he could get a word out, Cara sucker punched him on the flank, just outside his Beskar chest plate. He groaned but remained upright.

"Your strength returns, Din Djarin," said the Armorer slyly, as she passed them all on the ramp carrying her weapons.

"Yeah," said with his usual gruff voice, then he turned to follow Cara as she carried Tarre inside.

He closed the door as Zaral introduced each of the warriors to Cara and the Armorer. Then Zaral turned to the warriors and gestured to Cara.

"This is Cara Dune, a rebel shock trooper and Daughter of Alderaan. She aided Din Djarin in his quest to save the Foundling, Tarre-Haal of House Vizsla."

Cara caught that reference to the Child and turned to Din who looked back at her and nodded. Cara lifted her brows gave a frowning nod, giving grudging approval.

Finally, Zaral gestured to the Armorer. "And this is my oldest friend. She took many of our Clan, and many others to safety after the Great Purge. It is her Tribe that we seek to recover. And perhaps many more."

Zaral stepped aside and the Armorer looked at the entire team.

"The prison ship is an ISB ship that holds political prisoners and high risk assets. There is over two hundred prisoners, but if the information is correct we will be liberating fifty-three. Not all of the prisoners are named so we will need an updated manifest when we arrive on the ship."

Din spoke up. "That will be in the command center, and there will likely be at least one living guard, so I will bring some gas to disable him," he said with confidence. Cara looked at him and lifted a brow. "I've got — some experience."

The Armorer continued, "Obviously we can't remove the prisoners with this ship so we will have to procure two transports in the hangar. We will need two pairs to stay in the hangar and commandeer the ships. It is the most important job, keep the escape ships ready to go for when we arrive with over fifty possibly injured prisoners who may be unable to fight. You will be our ticket out."

"I will lead the hangar teams," Zaral said with authority.

Din turned to her and nodded.

The Armorer gestured to Din and Cara, "The three of us will each lead a team of two and sweep the three sections of the ship, starting with the command center.

Din then stepped forward and held up a holodisplay showing their flight pattern. "I obtained this approach from a previous mission, it will allow us to avoid detection and jam their signals. We will have plenty of time to execute the rescue — the departure will be — complex."

Cara dune held up her data pad. "The transports will have overrides which will need to be entered manually, and then their trackers will need to be disabled. Then we are home free."

Din looked over at Cara, and she smiled at him for the first time. She then looked back at the Armorer who nodded to Zaral who nodded to Din.

"Let's bring them all home," Din said loudly, and all fifteen warriors cried out lifting their fists, including Tarre.

* * *

Din lifted Tarre up to the command deck as usual and then followed up the ladder. He sat in the command chair, and Cara and the Armorer followed. Cara picked up Tarre from his usual seat and sat him on her lap. The Armorer sat in the secondary ops position, across from them.

As soon as they were off the ground, Din eased the Razor Crest upward through the atmosphere and accelerated toward the hyperspace lanes. He checked the read outs of the prison ship location, and it was still exactly where expected, orbiting Lasan. He laid in his course to Lasan to exit the hyperspace lane above the ship. The landing maneuver he would program in more detail while they were in hyperspace.

Din pulled the hyperspace lever, and they were on their way. Tarre giggled with excitement and Cara was speaking softly to him.

"So — do I need to start calling the Kid — Tarre-Haal?" Cara said with her eyebrows raised.

The Armorer answered. "It is an ideal name for him. He is named for the only Clan raised Jedi in history, Tarre Vizsla. And he is named, Haal, because he is a healer."

Din nodded, but did not reply.

Cara nodded and frowned looking down at Tarre. Then her curiosity got the better of her. "And when did all of these people from House Vizsla show up?"

Din stopped programming the arrival approach, and fully turned around to face her.

"I was saved as a boy during the Clone Wars by Death Watch. Death Watch was founded by Pre Vizsla. His brother, Sarin Vizsla, saved me and the fighting corps was my home ever since. Sarin's son, Paz Vizsla, became my brother."

Cara's eyes were wide. She had some limited knowledge of Mandalorian history, as told to her by other Mandalorians. She turned to look at the Armorer who nodded in affirmation.

"Wow. Wow. So...does that make you like a prince or something?"

Din stared at her for a second, "No." And then he turned back to his console and continued to program.

The Armorer looked back at Cara who shrugged and whispered, "What did I say?"

"The death of his older brother, Paz Vizsla, would put him in line to inherit House Vizsla," said the Armorer decisively.

Din did not respond, because he would not allow that possibility, not while there was renewed hope. He focused on his program.

The Armorer, however, was not done. She stood up and said, "It is a contingency you must face, Din Djarin. If in any way if Paz is incapable of leadership, you will be considered by the House when Zaral dies."

She then exited the cockpit, leaving Cara to sit in silence while Din worked. Tarre looked up at her and sucked on his Beskar Mythosaur quietly.

"Tarre-Haal Vizsla. It's nice to meet you. At least you're kinda relaxed," he cooed back at her and tilted his head against her arm and settled in to sucking on his Mythosaur.

Cara looked back at Din and considered attempting to strike up a conversation, then thought better of it. He was intent on programming the landing. If he found some semblance of focus in that task, she would let him keep his mind off the fate of his brother.

Din's mind, however, was anything but focused. It was moving constantly from his task to thoughts of all of the people he had lost — especially those he lost recently.

He thought of IG often, but as he programmed the final approach, he knew that IG's programming would be more reliable than his. He also wanted IG's sharp shooting skills on this mission. And his healing skills. Almost on queue, Din felt a slight ache where his head wound had been healed by IG, and he brought his head down to his hand.

"You ok, buddy?" Cara said quietly.

Din looked up, he had actually forgotten he needed to hide his pain because she was still sitting there.

"Yeah. Rough few weeks. I know you've had a busy time too."

Cara huffed, "Well, I haven't quite been through what you have."

Din did not reply. But after a few moments, he turned his chair around. "I never thanked you."

Cara blinked, "You don't have to. I know what Tarre-Haal means to you. And — now — I know what Paz really means to you too."

Din shook his head, "That's not what I mean."

Cara's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Thank you for trying to save my life. For being the one who — pushed me to keep going."

Cara shook her head, confused, "But — I didn't succeed, you _had_ given up. IG saved you. Nothing I said to you made a difference." Cara bit back tears and whispered, "And then I left you behind."

Din couldn't believe she didn't know what she had done. "Cara — I only let IG help me because — you are the first — friend I've had in ten years. And then, you respected me — enough to let me meet death how I wanted. There is no greater honor."

Cara frowned. "Yeah, well, your _honorable_ death was not what I wanted." She looked away as she failed to hold back her tears. "Because you were the first friend I'd had in quite a few years too."

Din stared at her. "Then why did you leave my helmet in place? You could have easily taken it off me."

Cara looked back at him and narrowed her eyes. "Because — I would have saved your life — and then you would have hated me, _friend_."

Din stared at her, unmoving. He could not deny her statement.

She suddenly got up, Tarre squeaked a complaint at his comfortable lap being disturbed. She set him back in his chair gently and stroked his ear.

Din stood with his hands up, "Cara, stop — I was trying — to tell you how much you —"

"Mando," the name had rolled off her tongue without thinking, but after she said it both of them felt the sting. "You follow the Way. I will always respect that. But if in our adventures I'm faced with that choice again, between saving your life or honoring 'the Creed' — I know now, after carrying my guilt the last few weeks — that I will _never_ be able to live with myself if you died because of _my_ choice. So if you can't agree to that, then I'm not sure you're gonna want me around much."

She turned and walked out the cockpit door which slid shut behind her.

Tarre squeaked, and Din could feel his distress. Din reached out and picked him up to calm him, then turned back to his calculations but only stared at his console.

* * *

Cara was down in the hold staring at a room full of cold faceless helmets. She was cleaning her weapon and planning her future — without Din and Tarre. And then Din's voice came over the loud speaker.

"Everyone, we are about to reach our destination. The ship will be pitching to avoid the sensors of the ship while jamming their signal. You will be tossed at several awkward angles, so brace yourselves. Coming out of hyperspace... five…four...three...two... one."

Cara had herself wedged in the door of the sleeping bunk, but she still felt the severe pull left and then her stomach drop as they thrusted down. They changed direction at least a dozen times, and then suddenly she heard a magnetic clamp below her.

Almost as soon as the clamp was in place, Din jumped down from the command deck, and then reached up to bring Tarre down. Cara felt her anger swelling again at the thought of Tarre being put in danger, but then he handed Tarre off to Zaral, who was leading the ship mission. He would be relatively safe and accounted for on the ship with Zaral. Tarre climbed up onto Zaral's armored shoulder and watched intently the preparations. Then he turned to look at her, and she suddenly felt an emotion she could not describe coming off of Tarre in waves, _Stay safe_.

Din knelt down and pulled up the grates covering the ship to ship portal. He then set his code breaker onto the hull and the computer worked to open the hatch within seconds. The air lock release hissed as the hatch opened and Din eased his head down into the ship.

All clear.

He lifted his head back up and whispered, "Strike One, Two and Three with me, to the command center! Ship One on comms, Ship Two and Three to the hangar bay!"

Din looked up at Tarre and saluted to him, then dropped down onto the ship. Cara saw Tarre squeak quietly, and look worried. She closed her eyes and sighed.

Two Mandalorians on Din's team followed immediately, then the Armorer and her two team members, followed by Cara and her team. The two ship teams slipped out last, and immediately jogged down the hall to the right. Din however, had already headed straight down the hall they had entered and the other two teams followed.

Using only hand signals, they started a cycle of jamming each camera they encountered, and when a standard group of four to six guard droids happened upon the team Din took the leader, followed closely by other team members immediately dispatching the rest.

Bringing up the rear and due to the size of their team Cara and the Armorer usually kept watch for additional droids while the Mandalorians did their work. Cara did not mind being sidelined, droids just weren't her thing, and the Mandalorians seemed to enjoy tearing them apart.

Just outside the command center Din produced a droid computer port arm that he had obviously removed from one of the guard droids. He used that arm to unlock the command center with a few short turns of the data port.

Silently, he tossed in a gas bomb, and closed and locked the doors behind it. Within a few seconds, the single guard inside stopped kicking the doors, and passed out.

Din opened the doors again, confirmed the gas was inert, and the entire party entered. "Ship One, this is Strike One, we have entered the command center. Have the ship teams made it to the hangar?"

"Strike One, this is Ship One, targets acquired, reprogramming trackers now." And Tarre squeaked at the end of the message so Din would know he was fine.

Din nodded, "Ship One, this is Strike One, we are accessing the manifest, now."

The Armorer was at the data console and was already downloading information. "Strike Three, start at cell block three hundred, and then move back to the hangar."

Din was now at the security station, and had started shutting down all related systems. "I can't shut down the droids, but I can kill all cameras and data systems, like the mouse droids. The guard droids, are independent, you will have to take them down." He turned back to Cara with concern in his voice.

She narrowed her eyes, "Got it."

The Armorer handed a small data pad to Cara, "These are your cells with the lock codes, GO!"

Without looking back, Cara took off running, she had the furthest to go.

The Armorer took her pad and then handed Din his. "Take block one hundred, I suspect the highest ISB security risk prisoners are there." Then she turned and took her team to block two hundred.

Din looked down at his list and he only had twelve prisoners. He quickly scanned the list and did not see Paz listed — in fact, all were redacted names.

Din called to his team and the three began checking the cells. The first three were former Mandalorian Representatives, all captured after the Purge. The next six were all former Mandalorian military, high ranking commanders. The next two were from the Tribe, and one was missing.

They had all been mistreated, and all military of course had been stripped of armor. But the only two who looked rough from recent battle and questioning were the Tribe members, but they could still walk. And, they had an idea of where the last prisoner was.

"Din, it was Paz. He found us after the Imperials captured us on Nevarro. He tried to rescue us alone. They captured him just before we were all moved to the prison ship. He is in the torture chamber."

Din's mouth went dry. "Where is it?"

They shook their heads. "They never took us out of our cells here on the ship. And they never brought him back."

Din was back on his comm. "Strike One to Two and Three. Has anyone found a torture room?"

"Negative, at Strike Two" replied the Armorer.

"Negative, at Strike Three, and our prisoners en route."

"Ship One, copy that Strike Three, Ship Two is ready to receive."

Din's heart began to pound. "Go, head to the hangar without me. I have to find him."

"What do we tell the team?"

Din turned to face them, "Tell them where I went. I'll get him out."

The team and the prisoners exchanged glances, and then moved out. Din looked back at his pad and searched for a map but found none. He stuffed the pad in his pocket and started down the hall searching for the room.

"Strike Two to Ship One, all prisoners accounted for, en route."

Din ran down a second, and then a third hall.

"Ship One, copy that Strike Two, Ship Two and Ship Three ready to receive."

Din was nearing panic. Every door was a cell. There was no other rooms. The ship was only two levels, prisoners level and then supply and hangars below. Din headed back to the command center.

"Ship One to Strike One, ETA?"

"Strike One to Ship One, arriving at the hangar now."

"Ship One to Strike One, where is your leader?"

"Seeking Alpha target, Ship One."

Din arrived back at the command center, and directly to the right was two large unmarked bulkhead doors. Doors like that were meant to protect an important area for the officers only. He tried the data port, but droids were not admitted. He ran back to the living guard and took his ID pen, but even he did not have clearance.

"Din," a voice behind him broke through his panic. He turned and found Cara standing there. "Move aside." She raised up her fist and showed him that she held multiple ID pens from the highest ranking officers in Moff Gideon's entourage who she had personally dispatched in the last few weeks. "One of these will open it."

Din was so out of breath from the adrenaline flushing his system he couldn't speak, he moved aside and drew his blaster to cover her as she worked. The first two ID pens failed, but the third one immediately opened the door.

Din and Cara moved inside with weapons up and the doors closed behind them. The room was dark, and held a desk and chair, and several cabinets and lockers, but they did not see anyone.

Din switched his vision to heat signature, and turned the corner to what looked like a small kitchen and saw no one. Cara followed, but then turned back to the cabinets. She realized they also were ID pen locked. She pulled out the ID pen that had opened the office door and inserted it into the cabinet door.

The black glass opened to reveal not a cabinet but a concealed conditioning room. And she heard a mournful sound coming from inside.

"Din! DIN! Get back here now!"

Din followed Cara inside and they found a bald man, gaunt and sallow, with skin hanging from recent starvation, strapped to an interrogation table that was tilted upright. His restraints were holding him on the table, and he was shaking as Din approached.

Cara kept watch while Din quickly removed the restraints at the knee and ankle, but when he reached up to the wrists — he saw something that made his blood run cold. It was the scar from a vibro-knife injury Din had inflicted on Paz when they were kids. Paz did not tell their father because he knew he had goaded Din, and he did not want Din to incur the wrath of Sarin.

Din looked up at the face of the man before him. He did not know this man. He tried to recognize him, but he saw nothing of his childhood brother in the person before him.

"Paz?" He whispered.

The man must have recognized the voice. His eyes slowly opened. Din completed removing the restraints, the man slid down the table to his knees, and Din sank down to the ground with him slowing his fall enough to save him from further damage.

Din held him in his arms and the man blinked his eyes again and again trying to focus on the man who had saved him.

"Din?... Din... you're — alive? How? How?" He reached out to his brother, placing a hand on his helmet, then breaking down in his arms. Din held the wasted remains of the once enormous man, hating every wretched Imperial officer in the universe for what they had done to the Vizsla Clan.

"Din — they wanted to know — who took the Kid — they _made_ me — tell them — who you were. They told me — they had — a trap — on Nevarro." He grasped Din's arm and squeezed it, "I was so sure — that you were dead — how — ?"

Din swallowed his tears, "Brother, I killed Moff Gideon on Nevarro — Mother and Father are now avenged."

Paz's face twisted with grief and then joy, and he openly wept. Cara felt her stomach clench as she recalled the Admiral's words, _He cannot be killed_.

Cara tapped Din on the shoulder, Din whispered harshly, "We have to go."

Din lifted on Paz' left and Cara came up on the right side and they willed him forward on his unsteady legs, headed straight for the hangar.

Din shouted into his comm, "Ship One, Leader Strike One and Two have acquired Alpha target. En route to Ship Two!"

Din struggled to keep pace while half-carrying Paz with his bad shoulder. He needed his good arm for target and defense. They were meeting more droids, but as they rounded the last corner and he saw the other inmates moving to the transports. Three Mandalorians were protecting the inmates, picking off droids who wandered into the bay. The Armorer, and the ship crews were moving inmates quickly into seats and more than half were in the ships. He scanned the bay and saw most prisoners were mobile, all had been stripped of armor, and he felt his heart surge as the success of the mission began to wash over him.

"Come on Paz — almost there," Din grunted as he tried to quicken their pace.

Suddenly, a blaster shot hit him in the beskar covering his back and he cried out as the hit laid him out flat sending him and Paz crashing to the ground. Cara managed to keep on her feet and turned to see where the shot had come from, it was a fresh group of ten droids, and the three Mandalorians were advancing on them but were outgunned. Even after taking out all command coordination, their movements were too significant and the guard droid independent response escalation had finally coordinated the advance.

"GO! GO! GO!" Cara screamed from Din's left, and he saw all of the prisoners rushing inside their ships. She knelt down and lifted her rapid repeating blaster which started mowing down the droids in range. "GO MANDO! GO!"

Din pulled himself from the ground and heaved Paz up with him crossing the bay to the ship as the three other Mandalorians moved up with Cara to hold back the droids.

The droids kept coming. Mando could see the hangar door opposite the door they had come in opening to bring in ten more droids that were about to outflank Cara and the others. He nearly physically carried Paz up to the transport and launched him up onto the deck then turned back to Cara and the others, but the Armorer stopped him.

"Get on the transport, Din Djarin! The Razor Crest is coming, with its canon to assist the others! Complete your mission!"

Paz gripped his shoulder, "Din — let's go!"

Din stopped for a second, and then said, "I'm sorry, I can't!"

He pulled both blasters and turned to run back towards the hail of blaster fire. He headed directly for the droids that were flanking his team.

Cara and the others had found cover, but were pinned down in the hangar. Din took out the first two droids with his blaster and then in hand to hand combat destroyed three more. The remaining five had turned their attack back on him and he took a hit to his bad shoulder beskar which caused him to cry out but he was back on his feet and using his flame thrower when he heard Tarre say inside his head, _Whistling birds_.

Din immediately released his new Whistling Birds from Mandalore and simultaneously the remaining five droid heads all exploded.

Cara led the other Mandalorians and dispatched the remainder of the original group of attacking droids and reached the door behind them to lock it.

The first transport exited the hangar as the Razor Crest arrived and Cara's team ran for the open ramp. Din was on the other side of the hangar and wanted to head straight for them as well, but Paz's transport was closer and he needed to see Paz safely off the prison ship. So he turned back to the second transport.

Paz reached out to pull Din up into the transport and the doors shut behind him just in time to leave the bay, and then Paz held Din as he struggled to catch his breath on the transport that quickly jumped to hyperspace.


	3. Chapter 11 - THE WEAPON

Din woke with a start. A bacta infusion hung above him, and there a warm spot was shoved up into his armpit that was snoring.

Then he heard a louder snore next to him. Paz.

He turned his head and saw Paz still floating in his bacta tank but the facemask he wore was somehow not filtering the roaring snore coming from him.

Then he heard a third snore to his left. Cara.

He lifted his head and saw she had taken the other couch in the room and was covered with a blanket. When he put his head back down he felt the warm spot shift, and looked down to see large sleepy black eyes on him.

"Shhhhh," Din whispered.

Tarre blinked, and then gave him a quiet chirp that he took to mean, _Good morning_.

Din could not resist running a finger over his forehead wrinkles and Tarre vibrated with a trill almost like a purr.

"We did it Kid," Din whispered. "We are gonna have to talk about you coming on missions though."

Tarre immediately stopped purring and his brow wrinkles came down until his nose crinkled at the bridge.

Din chuckled, "Ok, fine, we'll talk later."

They both looked over when suddenly Cara shifted on her couch.

Din quickly sat up and gasped when he put his one bare foot on the floor. His boot and shin armor were off for the port access to his bacta infusion. The infusion was not done, but he wanted to avoid disturbing Cara and Paz. He turned back to Tarre to put him on the floor but found Tarre was hopping down with no effort, and had already started towards Cara.

"No! Stop!" Din hissed.

Tarre turned back to Din, as Din frantically waved with both hands for Tarre to go out with him. Tarre lifted both ears and a tiny smirk brushed his lips, then he turned back to Cara crouched down and sprang up with a giant hop and landed on Cara's back.

Cara bolted straight up and Din groaned. Tarre laughed uncontrollably at the new trick he had learned while playing with his friends on Mandalore. Cara was disoriented after initially thinking she was under attack but Tarre's laughter disarmed her immediately.

"You little womp rat!" She giggled and flapped his big ears with her fingers. She then looked up at Din who was standing there holding his bacta bag and boot in his hand.

"Um, sorry — I tried to get him to leave quietly," Din said awkwardly.

Cara smirked, "Something tells me that he's calling the shots these days." She looked down at Tarre, "You are, aren't you?"

To her surprise, Tarre just raised his eyebrows and then with a huge hop he covered the distance to the door and then toddled quickly out. They watched him go in stunned silence leaving them to face each other. And Din suspected that was Tarre's intent.

"I'm gonna go — find him some food —" Din said, but then he realized Cara had also spoken.

"I'm gonna go find a ration bar —" but she stopped mid-sentence for the same reason he did. Cara sighed searching for another excuse to leave, but then realized she had some information Din needed to hear.

"Actually, there's something weird I found during my ops that I wanted to run by you before I head back to Nevarro. Greef called twice last night while you and Paz were getting treated. He's anxious for my return."

Din nodded, and followed her out into the hall. She stopped just outside the door to Paz' room in the hospital on Mandalore. The halls were old but clean and well kept.

Cara hesitated. "Remember how I told you during the briefing that I was worried that this was just the beginning? The Admiral whose pen got us into the interrogation chamber, he said something about Gideon that didn't make much sense, but I think you need to hear it."

Din frowned, "What did he say?"

Cara nodded, "Remember how I said Gideon was executed for war crimes? This Admiral actually said that Gideon _can't be killed_."

Din scoffed and Cara smirked but then stopped him. "There's more. Remember how I told you we were going to speak to the Jawas about cleaning up the town? They told me a story about Gideon's TIE fighter, that a man with a laser sword cut himself out of the shuttle and ran off into the lava fields."

Din took a physical step back, and felt his face go numb.

Cara looked intently at him. "Din, we don't have a body, no proof of termination. The Jawa's scrapped that shuttle long before we contacted them. We all saw that crash and _no one_ could have survived it. But I have a _really_ bad feeling about this."

Din looked away, and pushed down his emotions once again. It was getting harder and harder for him to keep his mind clear when facing these decisions which always seemed to involve the people he cared about.

"I spoke to the Armorer last night. The Tribe has agreed to Karga's terms and they will take up legitimate residence on Nevarro and join your new militia. Paz will stay here for his recovery. Until Clan Vizsla is able to establish communication with my next contact, my mission for Tarre is on hold. He — wants to come and protect you."

Cara's brows came together. "How do you know that?"

"He just told me," Din lifted a finger and pointed behind Cara. She turned around and found Tarre sitting on a hall bench munching on a ration bar.

"He got the ration bar for you, but he decided he couldn't wait for us to finish talking. And to be honest — he didn't wait very long," Din sighed.

Tarre squeaked a laugh with a mouth full of ration bar.

Cara turned back to Din with her jaw actually hanging open. "He's communicating with you?"

Din shrugged, "At first, just feelings, impressions. I would hear thoughts, and I assumed they were mine because it was my voice. But before the rescue mission he started sending thoughts that were clearly his. He had a strong opinion, so — I guess he found a way to express it."

Cara still could not wrap her mind around this, "Din, I think I've heard him in my head too. But can he speak?"

Din shrugged again, "Language? I don't know."

Cara stared back and forth between them for a few more seconds before she smirked again and looked at Tarre who continued to look innocent and chew on his ration bar happily.

"As I said, you really are calling the shots, eh?"

Tarre squeaked and lifted the remaining bit of the ration bar towards Cara, inviting her to take it. She walked over to him and could not resist the peace offering. She rubbed his forehead wrinkles.

"Thanks, buddy. You know, you don't have to come to Nevarro to protect me. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself."

Tarre looked up at her and his expression changed from sad to almost wise, sage-like as his eyes narrowed. Then he reached up with a three-clawed hand and without thinking Cara offered him a finger that he gripped tightly.

_We need each other_.

Cara gasped, and the shock of the telepathy made her heart beat faster.

"I heard him too," Din said quietly behind her.

Cara frowned but did not look back at Din. She shook off the surprise, and focused on Tarre.

"Buddy, I hear you, but your dad and I don't agree on some pretty important things."

Tarre looked over her shoulder at Din, then back at Cara, smiled and then hopped off his bench and headed back to Paz' room.

Cara sighed. "Looks like he doesn't care about that." She looked back at Din. "But I have a feeling you do."

Din nodded. "I do."

Cara looked back toward Paz' room, and then turned a furrowed brow toward Din. "So what happens to him? He's lost his helmet. It was removed by an enemy. Does Paz retire in dishonor?"

Din looked back at her, "Not dishonor. He will re-train, wear armor again, and return to fight, but not under the Creed."

"And leadership?"

Din sighed, "He will be unable to lead the fighters, but he will lead the Clan."

Cara shook her head, "I don't understand any of this. What is this damn Creed?"

Din looked down, "Cara, I can't quote the entire Creed for you, it's only for the initiated — but I can tell you this: none of this, the Rebuilding of Mandalore, would be happening without the dedication of those who follow the Creed. We would not have survived."

Cara nodded. "The good of the many," Cara shrugged. "It's damn honorable, but how would that sit with you if Tarre's life had to be sacrificed for the good of Mandalore?"

Din had no response.

"Exactly," Cara hissed. "You're both welcome to join us on Nevarro, but the conditions I set still stand."

Din was silent for a few seconds, "OK."

Cara's brow furrowed. "Just, OK? Just like that?"

Din replied, "Just like that."

Cara shook her head, "There's no way."

Din shrugged. "We'll test that theory next time I'm dying and only _you_ can save me." He leaned closer. "I'm not planning on it anytime soon."

Cara frowned, "You are completely laser-brained."

Din nodded, "I — probably am."

He turned and walked back to Paz' room to say his farewell.

Cara stood there stunned for a few more minutes still unable to reconcile the conversation. But she could not deny that she felt what Tarre had expressed. She had a feeling that in the near future they were going to need each other, more than they could possibly know or predict.

* * *

Paz opened his eyes as the bacta was drained from his tank. Slowly his feet descended to the floor of the tank and he realized that Din was standing next to the tank with a hand on the glass. He reached out with his own hand to the glass and saw how pale and thin he was. He looked up at Din's helmet until his feet touched the floor and he tested his balance. He was unsteady but significantly improved.

The tank door was opened by the nurse and Din walked around and extended an arm which Paz gratefully took as the nurse wrapped a thick robe over his shoulders.

He moved slowly over to the couch Din had been sleeping on, and Tarre stood on top of it looking up at his uncle.

Paz looked down at Tarre and then back up at Din and sat down, "You're leaving?"

Din nodded. "It's not over. The Tribe is headed back to Nevarro. Cara believes the Imperials may be returning with more force. The Tribe wants to finish the fight after what they did to us."

Paz nodded. "Din — I swore that if I could talk to you again I would tell you so many things." He looked up and the weight of his years were heavy on his face and eyes. Din knew Paz was only three years older than him, but now Paz looked like the difference was more than ten.

"I know I disapproved of the Guild membership, but I saw you struggle with it and I knew you would recover your moral grounding. Clan Vizsla has not always been rooted in virtue, but father was adamant about learning from the mistakes of his brother. Every man must make his choice."

Paz reached down and picked up Tarre who squealed with delight. "And now, I have a nephew." He chuckled. "You have really grown, brother. You are a man of honor."

Din was silent, mostly because he could not trust that his voice would remain steady.

"And Cara — " Paz said with a nod, "She is a force to be reckoned with."

Din groaned, "Stop."

Paz chuckled and Tarre followed suit. He looked down at Tarre and smiled. "Watch over him for me, little guy."

Tarre nodded solemnly.

Paz' brow came together, "Does he —?"

Din nodded and grumbled, "Yes. More than you realize, so watch what you say."

Din picked up Tarre and put him on the ground, then reached over and pulled Paz into a tight embrace.

"Mirjahaal, vod. Heal, brother. We will return," Din whispered.

Paz' eyes shined with tears, and he knew that Din's were only hidden by his helmet.

* * *

Din set Tarre's new hover pram over his usual seat at ops. He had surreptitiously re-wired most of the ops commands to the main console. Tarre now had an entire panel of switches to play with which would not affect the function of the Razor Crest.

Cara walked into the cockpit and set down her weapon behind the secondary ops position.

"There's space in the locker for your weapons. It's safer with him around." Din did not look back at her as he continued his takeoff sequence. "I suggest you lock up your duffel too, unless you want him stealing food — or other things."

Tarre looked up at her and squeaked with a smile.

Cara nodded, "Got it," and she left to secure her bags.

Din chuckled and turned back to Tarre. "Don't take too much. And don't steal anything that means something to her." Then he pressed the local transmission switch, "Tower, this is Razor Crest, requesting permission to embark."

Cara returned to the command deck and sat down for departure.

"Permission granted. Safe journey, Din Djarin and Tarre-Haal of Clan Vizsla. Return to Mandalore, the Foundlings are the Future."

Cara noted the silent sigh in Din's shoulders, and she looked over at Tarre who blinked looking back at her. They both felt the sadness at leaving.

"Acknowledged. We will return." Din held his voice steady and firm. He turned back to Cara and Tarre. "Ready?"

Tarre squealed and Cara laughed, "GO!"

* * *

Din and Cara walked through the Jawa fortress hold. There were innumerable Imperial parts within the fortress. She chuckled to herself. They were gonna make a lot of credits off all this stuff. And they were already offering her deals on blasters.

"OK fellas, where's the TIE fighter?" Cara was starting to lose some patience.

"There," Din pointed to a dark corner. Cara headed toward the section of bulkhead.

Din followed and turned on his helmet lamp and then both of them stopped in their tracks — a large square hole in the bulkhead appeared before them.

Cara turned back to the Jawas, "You saw this? You saw a man in a black uniform run into the lava flats?"

The Jawa's affirmation could not be disputed. They had seen it.

Cara looked back at Din, who was inspecting the damage to the bulkhead, running his fingers over the smooth melted metal.

"Din, what did that?"

He was silent for a moment. "Exactly what they told you, a laser sword." He looked back at her, "Like what apparently the Jedi used to carry." That statement was heavy in the air, but Din stood up and appeared to brush it off.

"It could just mean that Gideon captured and killed Jedi during the Imperial Era. But the one thing this does prove, is that we need to be prepared for a real attack from Gideon himself. And we are nowhere near ready to handle a bombardment from a Star Destroyer."

Cara felt her insides clench. They were going to have to leave.

* * *

"NO! We are not leaving!" Greef Karga paced around the cantina.

Din watched him from his seat at their customary table. "Karga, the militia is only good for a ground attack. The only way to force a ground assault is an infallible planetary shield. You don't even have a shield that can cover the city."

Greef shook his head. "You don't KNOW that he will come back."

Din stood up. "I have a very _good_ reason to know that he will come back."

Karga knew that Din was referring to Tarre who was sitting on the table and sucking on his Mythosaur pendant watching the argument.

Greef still shook his head. "But if you leave — then he will have no reason to attack us."

Din did not respond, and he watched as Karga immediately regretted it.

"You know that won't stop Gideon from taking revenge on you for beating him. Besides, the Kid won't leave."

Karga chuckled. "I know. He told me."

Cara and Din looked back at Tarre who looked back at them innocently and just sucked on his Mythosaur. Cara and Din looked back at Karga.

"What? When you guys first arrived he said, 'Hi!' You two don't just say, 'Hi!' So I knew it had to be him inside my head!" Karga said awkwardly.

Cara looked at Din and chuckled at Karga's discomfort.

"So our choices are, evacuate, or find a shield that can at least hold the city." Cara looked at Karga knowingly.

Karga sighed. "I've been working on it since we first discussed it, Dune. The best leads I've got are with some pirates I've had dealings with over the years."

Din looked at Cara, "You've already discussed this?"

Cara lifted a brow at Din and rolled her eyes. "This is not my first bombardment by a Star Destroyer. And really, Karga? Pirates? What innocent planet did they steal it from and leave defenseless?"

Karga groaned and pulled out a holodisplay that showed the model in question. "It's stolen Imperial tech. We just need to rewrite all of the command protocol so they can't hijack the controls."

Cara leaned forward, "That's perfect." She looked back up at Karga, "What is it going to cost us?"

Karga shrugged, "I'll negotiate," he grinned.

Tarre giggled and blew a raspberry.

Din picked up Tarre and put him on his shoulder. "I'll go confer with the Tribe."

Cara saluted Din and Tarre then returned to studying the shield model and planning the reprogramming strategy.

* * *

The Armorer was finished conducting training drills with the Tribe for the day and retreated to her personal gym. She stretched aching muscles and sighed. The former prisoners were recovering their skills well, but they were disoriented when removing their helmets. They were all having problems understanding their new roles. The Armorer was also having trouble leading them in the Way when they were no longer fully bound by the Creed. The dynamic was difficult.

She had noticed, however, that the bonds between warriors were stronger. Without helmets, their relationships were deepening. She worried about maintaining professionalism in the face of battle with the personal ties changing. But she also noted the improved morale. The Tribe morale had been declining in recent years, and now it was progressing. They felt purpose. They knew why they were all on Nevarro and what they were fighting for. They were no longer idle in the sewers. They were above ground and standing tall.

Even Din Djarin was changing. His renewed relationship with his brother and Clan, and his new Foundling were grounding him and causing him to develop character that was only barely visible before. She considered again the possibility that he might take on her leadership role if she was to perish in the fight, now that Paz was able to secure the future of Clan Vizsla. But she knew that Din must complete his mission with Tarre-Haal first. Until then, she could not ask him to stay.

The door chime rang and the Armorer stood up, "Come."

Din opened the door and stood in the doorway with Tarre on his shoulder. "May I enter?"

"Of course, Din Djarin," the Armorer replied.

She led him to a pair of benches in the corner of the gym, and they sat down and Tarre hopped down off Din's shoulder.

"I wanted to congratulate you on your successful recovery of the surviving Tribe members, as well as many others taken in the Purge," the Armorer said placidly.

Din nodded, "It was my duty."

The Amorer bowed her head slightly, "Zaral has informed me that one of the Purge prisoners was Kor-Kayan of House Kryze."

Din was speechless for a moment. "Clan Kryze lives?"

The Armorer nodded, "News of his survival has brought back others of his Clan. Bo-Katan's nephew will ensure her legacy."

"That — is a great news for Mandalore." Din envisioned the ramifications of this development. He could barely comprehend how this would change the stagnant politics on Mandalore. So he decided to shift back to the the immediate concerns of Nevarro.

"Karga has made a deal to purchase the shield."

"Excellent. So it seems we won't have to evacuate after all."

Din was pensive, "Does the Tribe feel competent for this fight?"

The Armorer looked at him intently, "Do not question their resolve. Their physical acumen returns with every day that passes. Their bodies remember the training."

"No, I did not mean to question their training. I have a new concern, one they may not be ready for."

The Armorer stared at him waiting for details.

"Cara and I have found evidence that Gideon survived the TIE crash, and that he has a laser sword weapon. I've been thinking about what he could want with Tarre-Haal. I wonder if he could have a connection to the Jedi or other enemies with their technology."

The Armorer cocked her head slightly, "Zaral seemed certain that the Empire hunted the Jedi to extinction."

"But what about the Jedi's enemies, the Sith?" Din said urgently.

Suddenly Tarre started making a sound that Din had never heard before, it was almost a growl.

Din and the Armorer looked at Tarre and Din reached out a finger. "_Ad'ika_, have you seen the Sith that Zaral told us about?"

Tarre reached for Din's finger, but he did not speak, he just gave Din an overwhelming sense of sadness. Din had to take some deep breaths to recover from the overwhelming emotions. He picked up Tarre, and held him next to his chest plate.

"He didn't say, but the Sith have obviously affected him somehow in the past."

The Armorer looked back at Din, "This child has seen more in his fifty years than we could ever comprehend.

Din slowly rubbed a circle on Tarre's back and he started to calm.

"We will discuss these revelations with the Tribe tomorrow."

* * *

The news of Gideon's likely survival was not received well, and morale took a significant hit, even with the arrival of the city shield.

Cara and several of the tech engineers from the Tribe worked day and night to reprogram the unit, and were met with failure over and over. Finally, after conferring with city engineers they had a successful test of the shield and it covered the city and the outskirts.

Din found Cara in the firing range one evening absolutely demolishing a target. She suddenly dropped her blaster then picked up a different one and started shooting at the second target. When that target was demolished she dropped that blaster, and picked up a third. The third weapon was one of Din's and he appreciated her skill with a Mandalorian rifle. It wasn't as difficult to use as the pulse rifle he carried, but it was also unwieldy and required skill to aim properly.

"Stop lurking, Mando. Just leave me alone," Cara growled.

Din shifted, "Just checking in on you, as agreed," he quoted her message from weeks before.

Cara stopped reloading her blaster, and started laughing. "You don't trust that I'm taking care of myself either. What a pair we make."

Cara finished reloading, locked and then shot off the entire cartridge.

Din still did not comment.

Cara stopped for a minute to drink some water and looked at Din. She finished the entire bottle before she crossed her arms and spoke.

"You two still happy you stayed?"

Din did not reply.

"You still so confident you won't be dying in the near future?" Cara laughed.

Din did not reply.

Cara sat down next to the pile of weapons and started cleaning them. Din walked over and picked up the Mandalorian rifle she had borrowed and broke it down so it could be cleaned. Cara watched his technique and used it to break down the next weapon.

They sat in silence, cleaning, both feeling that the battle was coming.

* * *

The next morning Din sat upright in bed. It was still dark outside, and he scanned the room with his night-vision, but he was alone.

"Tarre! TARRE!"

Din could feel he was near but Tarre did not return when Din called.

He threw aside the blanket and walked out into the main room. He found Tarre standing on the windowsill looking up at the sky. Tarre looked over at Din standing in the bedroom door and made a small whimpering sound.

"They're here," Din whispered.

* * *

The Star Destroyer started the bombardment an hour later, just as the sun was coming up. It lasted almost ten hours until dusk, but the shield held true. The Tribe set up perimeters in the three sections of town most likely to be attacked by ground assault and then they waited.

Din, Tarre and Cara set up at the old city gate, betting that based on the terrain at that side of the city, walkers would have the easiest approach and they were certain that even if multiple areas were hit at once the bulk of the artillery had to come that way.

By the time the stars began blinking across the sky the familiar echoing steps of multiple walkers appeared in the darkness.

Tarre squeaked from his hoverpram, which was now reinforced with beskar panels. Din had controls to close the pram if danger neared, and he was proximity tethered to Din as well so they could not be separated.

"Command, this is the Gate, we have made contact. Three AT-STs visible, multiple troop carriers," Din relayed his evaluation as he scanned the area.

"All quiet on fronts two and three. We will send reinforcements."

"Copy that, Command," Din replied. But then as he zoomed in on the walkers to assess the weapons payload he saw something he had never seen before. "What is that?" He gasped.

Cara looked over at him, "What? What is what?" She grabbed a pair of binocs and scanned the line until she saw what he was looking at.

"That AT-ST has been modified. It looks like some kind of power source," Cara said.

"Could it be a shield generator?" Din asked urgently.

Cara shook her head, "Not like any I've ever seen."

"Then we have to assume it's a new weapon," Din picked up his communicator, "Command, this is the Gate, we are picking up a new weapon that is on a modified AT-ST. Request data evaluation." He sent his visual readouts to Command.

Before they could respond, however the line of walkers stopped several hundred yards away. And the modified AT-ST opened it's top hatch. It was too dark to see from their line who jumped up on top of the AT-ST, but Din could see with his telescopic vision, and his voice became a low growl.

"Command, we have confirmation. Moff Gideon is alive. And, he's raising his hand, he's holding something…"

Suddenly the shining black blade sprang out of the hilt that Gideon held and the entire company of the Tribe suddenly gasped.

"The Dark Saber…" The Armorer whispered.

Din looked back at her, unable to process what was happening.

The Armorer turned to face him, "You now have the answers you sought. The Imperial who conducted the Purge, and killed our leader, has stolen the symbol of the rule of Mandalore. The weapon created by the namesake of your Foundling."

Din looked down at Tarre and felt a burning in his chest. He felt anger that he had not allowed to surface since the day he rescued Paz from the prison ship. The heat of it radiated off of him.

"That weapon will be returned to Mandalore," he spat out.

"Indeed. This is the Way." The Armorer replied.

"MANDALORIANS!" Moff Gideon's voice was suddenly amplified across the gap between the militia and his forces. "You may recognize this weapon! But I'm sure you do not recognize the weapon I am standing on! You may not realize that at one time during the occupation of Mandalore, many of your youth were educated by the Imperial system! And many of your leaders collaborated with the Empire! Including Clan Saxon, which is part of your House Vizsla, Din Djarin! And what is most poetic about this betrayal is that it goes even deeper! Saxon worked with Admiral Thrawn to create this weapon! One that was powerful enough to use beskar armor against your own people!"

Suddenly the T-shaped protrusion on the top of the AT-ST powered up.

Din heard Tarre squeaking uncontrollably in fear, _RUN! RUN!_

Din turned to the Mandalorians of the Tribe and screamed, "EVERYONE TAKE COVER! MOVE! MOVE!"

The high pitched whine of an arc generator was the last thing Din heard before he saw a white energy discharge from the generator strike and render helpless four Tribe members for several seconds and then they completely disintegrated before his eyes.

Din immediately closed Tarre's pram and shoved him out of the line of fire as three more Tribe members disintegrated. Cara was right next to him screaming for him to run when the next discharge shot right past her and straight through Din and the Armorer.

He felt as if he was being electrocuted from the inside while being cooked from the outside. And then he remembered that he had just shielded Tarre's pram with beskar…

_NOOOOO!_

The cry inside his head got louder, and as it did, he realized that the burning of his skin was lessening and the nerve endings that were being electrocuted were suddenly feeling relief.

He could not see her but he heard Cara was screaming, "Destroy it Tarre! NOW!"

The tiny green boy was holding at bay the entire discharge of the weapon, and on Cara's command he pushed the discharge directly back into the weapon causing Gideon to jump from the exploding AT-ST.

Tarre immediately collapsed back onto his blankets in the pram, and Cara pressed the button to re-close the doors.

"FALL BACK! ALL MANDALORIANS FALL BACK!"

The militia reinforcements had arrived and several Tribe members picked up the Armorer and Din by the arms and heaved them forward and out of the battle zone.

Din was barely conscious, but he could see that the closed pram was hovering just in front of him following the tether program, and the Armorer was still alive and struggling to walk next to him as she was also half carried by Tribe members that had not been hit.

The person he could not see was Cara, and it was because she was standing on the front line using his rifle to pick off Gideon's men.


	4. Chapter 12 - THE CALL

CHAPTER 12: THE CALL

_Din tried to warn them, he yelled for them to run, but they were vaporized in front of him. Suddenly, Moff Gideon was standing in front of him and he lifted up the Dark Saber between his eyes. The weapon's white bolt of energy suddenly struck Din in the chest just as he was going to lunge for Gideon. The crackling energy was also enveloping a beskar shielded pram that was just out of reach. He watched in horror, he was frozen, helpless. Gideon slowly advanced and raised the Dark Saber over his head, and with a final echoing laugh the Saber came down on Din's head…_

Din woke with a start, covered in sweat, and _everything_ hurt. Even his eyelids hurt. He remembered the feeling of being cooked, and he also felt like every nerve ending in his body was still buzzing with the energy that had coursed through him. His helmet was on but the familiar weight of his beskar was missing, and he was thankful, that weight might have been more pain than he could bear…

_Tarre!_

Din forced his eyes open, and realized he was in the sewers, in the old covert, where they had converted the sewer colony into an infirmary before the battle.

_Tarre, can you hear me!_

Din couldn't feel Tarre at all. He forced his head to turn right, he could see the Armorer in the cot next to him, she seemed comfortable and well. He forced his head to turn left, and there he saw Tarre's pram, it was open, but it was above his line of sight so he could not see his _ad'ika_.

Din grunted with pain as he forced screaming limbs to lift his body up and reach out for the pram. He lunged and grabbed its edge, then pulled it down to his height and found Tarre still unconscious inside.

"Tarre!"

"Din! Stop! You're going to rupture a muscle moving like that!" The Armorer put a hand on his shoulder, but Din would not stop until he had picked up Tarre and put him on the cot.

Tarre did not wake but felt the warmth of his father and curled up close to him.

Din finally laid back and felt sweat dripping down from his hair which was stuck to his forehead, and rolling down his neck and chest. He couldn't catch his breath.

"Slow your breathing, Din Djarin. Slower still," she sat on the edge of his cot and looked up at the medscanner above his head. "You must move slowly. The weapon had the worst affect on you, as you carry the most beskar of the entire Tribe. A few more seconds and you surely would have been vaporized faster than me."

Din looked back up at the Armorer and asked weakly, "Are you alright?"

The Armorer nodded, "I am injured, but I am recovering."

"How long —? What is happening?" Din whispered.

The Armorer put a hand on his chest. "The battle has been raging two days. This is the morning of the third. Both you and Tarre are the last to recover from the first attack at the Gate. The militia is holding its ground, and it appears that Gideon's forces have limits. The Star Destroyer above us does not contain a full compliment."

Din's heart quickened at that news, because it meant they had a chance.

"The Mandalorians have been conducting strike force and sniper warfare, instead of creating large lines that are an easy target for the weapon, but Gideon has not produced another copy of the same weapon since Tarre-Haal destroyed the first one."

Din's arm instinctively curled around Tarre a little tighter.

"Cara Dune has been a mastermind of the defense of the city," the Armorer added.

Din looked up at the mention of Cara's name. "Where is she?"

The Armorer tossed her head to the right. "She is assigned to the Gate again today. She was here last night with you and Tarre."

Din sighed, "I cannot leave the Tribe and Dune to this fight alone."

The Armorer looked at him, "You cannot fight in this condition, either. Besides, you must ensure the safety of your Foundling. Ultimately, he is what Gideon wants."

Din nodded, then his insides spasmed at that thought and he twitched slightly.

The Armorer reached up to change his bacta infusion bag, but Din stopped her.

"Let me get up and move a little," he pleaded.

The Armorer helped him move from supine to seated, and Din settled his sleeping boy in his left elbow. When she pulled Din from sitting to standing, however, the pain shot straight through his chest and he faltered.

"Your muscles were all broken down by the weapon, Din. The bacta has healed the damage and inflammation, but if you do not return to movement slowly, they will tear apart."

Din nodded and he could feel the cramp in his left arm where he held Tarre. With shaking arms he laid Tarre back inside his pram. Then he looked back up at the Armorer.

"Have you contacted Mandalore since the battle began?"

The Armorer shook her head, "Standard Imperial siege protocol, all communication has been jammed."

"Not all communication," Greef Karga walked up, with a tight smile. "My pirate network has been using the slow frequency bands for as long as I've known them. They are less efficient and therefore considered noise by the Empire. If you use enough encoding, it's like floating a sub under the ocean in a cyclone."

Karga put a hand gently on Din's aching shoulder, "Good to see you up again, Mando."

Din nodded, "Thank you."

Karga tossed a glance at Tarre, "He's still sound asleep?"

Din sighed, "The first time he over extended himself to save me, he was down for two days. I don't know how long it will take him to recover from this one."

Karga frowned, "You were asking about communication?"

Din looked up at Karga, "I need to speak to my brother, he needs to hear about what is happening here. We need Mandalore."

"To what end?" The Armorer asked.

Din looked up at her, "We thought we were just finishing off the remnant of Gideon's forces. But now Gideon is still alive, which means he will be coming for Tarre, AND he has a weapon we did not anticipate. To finish off Gideon, we are going to have to take down that Star Destroyer and cut off his resources. We can't do that without starships. We need Mandalore to help us, but before we can ask that, I must tell them of the weapon."

The Armorer nodded, "Gideon obviously stole the information from the Imperial archives on Mandalore, because he said Thrawn built the weapon once before with the help of the Saxon Clan. There may be someone on Mandalore who knows how to stop it."

Karga nodded and extended a hand, "Come with me, the comms are in my office."

Din reached over and closed Tarre's pram, put on one of his vambraces to reactivate the proximity tether, then took Karga's hand. Karga put Din's arm over his shoulders and the Armorer took the other side, then together they started the painful journey to Karga's base office further down in the sewers.

* * *

Din sat heavily, even with wearing only his coveralls and his helmet, he was having trouble just holding up his head.

"You've sweat right through your coveralls, Mando," Karga said with concern. "You're going to get dehydrated."

Din put up a hand, "I promise — I'll take any treatment offered — we just have to make this call."

Karga looked up at the Armorer, and then reached around Din to the ancient looking machine. He typed in a pass code, then adjusted several switches.

He pointed to the monitor which showed a band of hazy white noise toward the top of a black screen.

"That is the jammer of the Imperials. Now, watch down below it…"

He tapped on a signo-grapher. He tapped three times, paused and then tapped again. With each tap a small burst appeared on a line in the space well below the jamming signal. Karga laughed and pointed to the Imperial jamming signal.

"You see? No change. They did not even adjust once to interfere with any of those taps. Now, if I modulate your message even more to continuously span across this spectrum below their jammers, even if they do detect us, we can keep them one step behind long enough to get your message through."

Din looked up at Karga, "Pirates and smugglers, eh?"

Karga grinned, "All in a day's work."

Din took the hand mic when Karga handed it to him then pressed the button on the side.

"This is Din Djarin, Clan Vizsla, to Mandalorian Outer Defense. Moff Gideon is alive and he has the Dark Saber. He also has a weapon that vaporizes Mandalorians using their beskar armor. To defeat the enemy we will need star ships. This weapon may determine the fate of Mandalore. Return communication to ONLY this signal."

Karga nodded, then modulated the message as he described, sending it out.

"I'm going to have to stay in here, just in case we get a response," Din said quietly, feeling the strain of the activity.

Karga looked around, "We'll need to give you this room, Mando, otherwise you won't have a place you can eat in privacy."

Din leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees as he fought a wave of nausea, "Not sure I could eat right now anyway, Karga."

"He needs fluid more than food. Find him a couch or a cot and I will get supplies for them," the Armorer said decisively as she walked out, headed back to the infirmary.

Din was about to put his head down on the desk when suddenly he felt a quiet voice, _Buir_…

Din's head shot up, and he turned to Tarre, who was looking at him with sleepy eyes and a small smile. Din reached over and pulled the pram to him, leaning on it instead of the desk.

_Tarre…how do you feel, ad'ika?_ He offered a finger to Tarre and he took it, and held onto it but closed his eyes again. Din felt nothing but peace from him, no pain, no fear. Soon Tarre was snoring again.

Din felt his eyelids becoming heavier and then he fell asleep on the chair leaning over the pram.

* * *

"WHERE ARE THEY?" Someone was yelling down the hall and it echoed through the sewers.

"In here! They are sleeping! Calm down!" Karga's voice was easy to recognize.

"Are they okay?" Cara's voice was now unmistakeable.

Din forced himself to get up, and slowly hobbled to the door, which he opened, startling both Karga and Cara. Din leaned against the door frame but tried to hide his pain at the effort of walking.

"Tarre woke up finally a few hours ago. Just for a minute, but he's okay," Din said quietly.

Cara walked over to Din and threw her arms around him. He grunted slightly from the assault on his muscles, but he was so glad to see her, completely healthy after three days of battle, that he did not stop her.

Without any of his beskar plates, he suddenly seemed much leaner in stature to Cara. He was diminished. But she reminded herself what the Armorer had said, due to his heavy beskar, the weapon had affected him the worst, and he was going to be physically weaker than he had ever been before. With her arms around him she could already feel his limbs shaking from the effort.

"Come on, sit back down," Cara kept an arm around his midsection and guided him back to his couch. "Has Paz returned your call?"

Din shook his head, "Not yet," he sighed after he sat down. "He will."

Karga was emphatic, "We are holding them back. We will be able to last until we hear back from the Mandalorians. We need to start thinking about getting you and Tarre out of here."

Din shook his head, "No. We can't leave you."

Karga put his hands on his hips, "What exactly do you think you are going to do that can help us now? You can barely move! We have all the warriors we need to hold out. Go, and get Tarre out of here. This battle is the perfect distraction! You can slip between Gideon's fingers. And then we can crush him!" Karga made a fist and had a slightly wild look in his eyes.

Cara could not help but smile at Karga's optimism. She looked back at Din, "Well he's right about you and Tarre being useless to the battle right now."

Tarre suddenly gurgled and squeaked in protest. Cara smiled and reached into the pram, "Hey my little warrior! You're right! You saved them all! Including your Dad!"

She held him in her arms and tickled his nose, he sighed and grabbed for her fingers. She let him hold them and smiled down at him.

Din looked at her, "It really was just him? I didn't dream that?"

Cara smiled up at him, but her eyes shone with tears, "Yeah. It was all him. We would have lost every Mandalorian at the Gate if it wasn't for him. As it is, we lost ten of the sixty we had, in just seconds. Seven from the Tribe and three from the Mandalorians who came with us to help."

Din put his helmet in his hands. He started to second guess his plan. But then he came back to the same conclusion, the weapon plans had to be destroyed and a defense had to be developed. Or it would be the end of Mandalore.

Karga spoke up when he saw Din's plate still half full sitting on his desk, "You barely ate, Mando. You're going to have to do better than that."

"Karga," Din growled, "I'm doing the best my insides will allow."

Karga shot Cara a look. And Cara rolled her eyes and nodded.

"I'm gonna hang on to Tarre for a few minutes. You need to drink more, and get a few more bites in," Cara stood up.

Din actually reached up after Tarre, but then pulled his hand back in as a fist.

"Fine," he muttered, resigned.

Cara and Karga walked out with Tarre and closed the door behind them. Cara sat down and Karga stood next to her as she looked down at Tarre.

"Kid — I just need you to listen to me. We have a plan, and we will talk to your Uncle about it too. But we have to get you and your Dad to safety."

Tarre frowned.

"I know, don't look at me like that. We never would have gotten this far without you and your Dad, but it's time for you to go now. And, don't worry, I know your Dad can't do this alone — I'm coming with you," Cara said quietly.

Tarre's ears fully extended for the first time since he awoke and he smiled. Karga patted Cara's shoulder in approval.

* * *

"This is Outer Defense, calling Nevarro base. We have Clan Vizsla who desires to speak to Din Djarin."

Din heard the comm panel going off despite a deep slumber, but he was slow to come out of it. Karga and Cara burst into the room and Tarre was squeaking as Karga started to flip switches and Cara picked up the mic.

"This is Cara Dune at Nevarro base. Din Djarin is injured, may I speak to Clan Vizsla?"

There was a brief pause, "Cara? What happened? Where is Din?" Paz's voice rang out.

"Paz! He was hit with the weapon he told you about in the message. He survived, but we have to evacuate him and Tarre!"

"Cara, we are coming," Paz voice sounded strained. "The weapon you describe is known to the Clan. It was last used on Mandalore before the Battle of Yavin when it was destroyed. It was thought that was the last one in existence. It looks like we were wrong."

Din managed to sit up and struggled to stand, Karga went over to help him to the desk, and Din put a hand on Cara and the desk to hold himself up.

"Paz! Do we have a defense? A way to stop the weapon?" Din managed to say through gritted teeth.

Cara nodded, "Tarre-Haal destroyed the first one. But we have to assume they have more."

"We do not have a defense. Zaral found Bo-Katan's report on the weapon. The report only said that Sabine of Clan Wren managed to reprogram the weapon to use the armor of the Stormtroopers against them in the same way it attacks using the beskar."

Din shook his head, "Did Bo-Katan's report include the specs?"

"No, Din, but we have already prepared a team to infiltrate the Star Destroyer and retrieve the information. Cara, how are you going to evacuate my brother?"

"The Razor Crest is intact, Paz. I just need cover fire to fly Din and Tarre to the hyperspace lanes," Cara said quickly.

Din shook his head again, but his legs were already unsteady from standing, "I'm NOT leaving, Paz, there's no way I can let any evidence of this weapon exist in the galaxy!"

"DIN," Paz silenced his brother with one forceful word, "this is NOT your mission. Your mission is with Tarre-Haal. In fact, you may be able to accomplish both that mission and help in the fight, if you would just _listen_ to us."

Cara stood up and moved Din into the chair she was sitting in. He sank into the chair, then leaned onto the desk and took the mic, "I'm listening."

"When Zaral showed me the information about the weapon and Sabine of Clan Wren, she also told me about the unanswered calls to Countess Ursa Wren. So I put out a call to Tristan, Sabine's brother. He and I fought together with Bo-Katan representing our Clans while you were still with the Fighting Corps. And today, he responded."

Din's breath caught in his throat.

"I explained your situation and the news of the weapon and the Dark Saber. Tristan and the remainder of Clan Wren are now on their way. And he brings with him the last known path of a ship signature — that carries Sabine Wren."

Din huffed, the closest he could come to a laugh, "She can help us with the weapon."

"And, Din, she travels with someone who may be able to help you and Tarre-Haal. Tristan says the two Jedi who delivered the Dark Saber to Bo-Katan are now dead. But Sabine travels with one who trained with the Jedi Order."

Din was stunned, "She travels with another Jedi?"

"No, but apparently she is a legendary Force wielder who fought in both the Clone Wars as well as with the Rebellion. Din — I need you to leave, and go find that ship."

Din turned to look at Tarre who was sitting up in his pram with very wide eyes. He knew what Tarre wanted to do.

Din then looked over at Karga who gave him a knowing glance, and lastly up at Cara, who lifted a brow at him. Then he turned back to the mic and pressed the button.

"OK, Paz, when you arrive, we'll be ready to go."


	5. Chapter 13 - THE SHIP

Cara felt her adrenaline rushing as she pushed the rhydonium tank hovercart to the Razor Crest. She had to remain focused. ETA of the Mandalore forces was less than five hours.

The Armorer was gathering supplies, Karga was maintaining defense of the city, and she had to ready the ship. The only thing that Paz could tell her for certain was that they were headed beyond the Outer Rim to the Wild Regions. So she knew she needed fuel.

Din had also just told her that he had a patch job done on Tatooine on his fuel lines after a fire fight. She had to make sure that was handled as well. He had even broken his vow to never let droids touch his ship.

So many of his "rules" were falling away, it was confusing. He was morphing into someone completely different. She wasn't sure what he was going to be. And she wasn't sure how that new man was going to react to — losing Tarre-Haal.

Cara had so many other things to focus on, but she was disconcerted about how no one was talking about the fact that they were about to go and look for a Force-wielder who had trained with the Jedi. The Armorer seemed to feel that Tarre-Haal needed to be reunited with others who had strong connections to the Force. But that would mean that he would be separated from Din.

She had watched their connection grow. She had felt that connection herself. She had seen Din take many hits on this journey, but she was not sure that he would be able to recover from being removed as Tarre-Haal's protector — and father.

She pushed down these thoughts once again and checked the fuel gauge, the fuel levels were holding. She walked around to the other side of the Razor Crest and called up to the droids that were magne-clamped onto the engines and gave them a shout and a thumbs up.

"Go work on the hyperdrive efficiency! And scan for any other external damage, he was told the power lines are leaking! I'm going to work on the spazzing navigation system!"

"How's it going out there?" Din's voice was getting stronger, but he was also getting a bit annoying.

Cara sighed, "Din, kinda busy out here, bud."

He did not take the hint. "I forgot to mention on the checklist, you need to —"

Cara muted her comm, "Uh-huh, got it. Sure."

The Armorer arrived with a hovercart full of supplies, "I can have him sedated if the need arises."

Cara laughed, "I have a feeling sedatives will be necessary for him to sit at Ops while I fly this bucket."

The Armorer replied dryly, "He will realize that he already knows you are more than a match for his piloting skills."

"I can still hear you on both comms," Din's irritated growl came over the Armorer's comm because he was muted on Cara's.

Cara laughed again and unmuted her comm. "Din, this is gonna be a long trip if you can't even let me do my job to prep the ship. We are running out of time."

Din was quiet for a few seconds, "Can I just say one thing — please?"

Cara rolled her eyes, "Go ahead."

"Thank you…really," Din said almost in a whisper, and he paused long enough for Cara to let the words resonate. "—And download updates on the hyperspace lanes and Outer Rim charts."

Cara sniffed back her tears and cleared her throat, "Signing off, NOW." And she shut off her comm.

* * *

Karga hurried down the line with both blasters out, "Commander! Commander!"

"Karga!" The Tribe member walked directly up to him. "They are changing their formation! What is the status? Could they have gotten word of the Mandalorian approach?"

Karga shook his head, "No, there's no way they could know! Have you seen Gideon?"

The Tribe commander shook his head, "Not since the first day, sir. The Tribe is inquiring — how are the Armorer, and Din Djarin?"

Karga looked back at the commander and tried to exude calm resolve, "They are alive, and recovering."

The commander leaned closer, "The Tribe is nervous about the Foundling leaving us behind, they fear another of the weapon arriving before the Mandalorian Force."

Karga frowned, "If there is another weapon on that Star Destroyer, the Mandalorian Force will not be able to save us."

The commander nodded, resigned. "The movement we have observed is likely fresh troopers. But as we predicted these troop movements are much less than other similar attacks which seek to overwhelm. The Tribe is on constantly on surveillance, looking to picking off scouts seeking information on the location of Din Djarin and the Foundling."

Karga nodded, "We will only need to conceal them until the Mandalorian Forces arrive. Hold fast, commander."

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

Tarre watched from his pram as Din worked on rehabbing his back and shoulders. Days of immobility and lack of nutrition had taken their toll. Din was finally eating better, and for the first time he could really feel his energy returning.

The down side was that his mind was clearer as well and he was driving Cara crazy with all of his thoughts and ideas. So he tried to refocus his attention on physically preparing for an extended period of time in the confines of the Razor Crest on this hunt for a missing ship.

He pushed himself too hard and was once again doubled over on his cot, dripping with sweat and gasping for breath to work through the pain.

Suddenly, he felt a grip on his left elbow and a warmth moved through him, bringing with it a sense of peace and calm that he had not felt for days.

His eyes snapped open and he immediately pulled his arm away from the grip of Tarre-Haal.

"STOP! STOP TARRE!" He shouted causing Tarre to stumble backward onto his cot where he had been standing.

Instead of crying, however, Tarre stood back up and lifted his hand back up to Din, and cried out a sound that could only be interpreted as a demand.

"Tarre — you can't keep doing this!" Din replied with exasperation.

Tarre put down his hand, but then clenched his claws of both hands into fists, and repeated his cry, louder so the sound almost filled the room.

"TARRE — LISTEN TO ME!" Din yelled as he sank down to his knees in front of the cot.

His Foundling's brows were still creased in anger as he stared defiantly at his father figure.

"Please, a_d'ika_ — please — you know how I feel about that," Din reached out and put a hand on the cot near where Tarre was still standing in challenge. "Listen, I'm very grateful for everything you have done to protect me. But, I don't know yet the limit of your power. What happens to me — it doesn't matter. What matters is we get you to someone who can stick with you — for much longer than I can."

Tarre squeaked quietly, expressing his confusion.

"You've already lived longer than me! I know you've seen things that I — can't even imagine. You belong to something much bigger than me. And you'll live an incredible life, for hundreds of years after I'm gone."

Tarre's lip trembled.

"You have to stop saving me — because — someday — you won't be able to," Din's voice broke as he spoke his fears out loud for the first time.

The weight of the loss of his own parents came crashing down on him, the trauma and the aftermath of losing everything he knew broke through the dam in the weakest moment of his life since he was a child.

"I have to prepare you. Because when it happened to me — I wasn't ready. Someday — it may be years, or it could be tomorrow — I won't be here."

Din looked up at the ceiling and tried to stop the tears that kept streaming down his face. And then he felt a tiny hand on his. He looked down and saw Tarre looking at him with his ears completely folded down, and tears rolling down his cheeks.

_Buir, you only make me stronger._

Din picked him up and tucked him into his left elbow. "Tarre, when we are parted, I promise — I will be with you. Always."

* * *

At the appointed time, the middle of the night sky was suddenly filled with a sight that had not even been seen over Mandalore since before the Imperial Occupation. An enormous Keldabe-Class Battleship filled the sky and immediately opened fire on the Star Destroyer and the Imperial remnant ground forces on Nevarro.

Cara opened the ramp to the Razor Crest hold and called the Armorer on her comm.

"That's our subtle signal!" She yelled.

"Affirmative, on our way," was the calm response from the Armorer.

Cara started the takeoff sequence, and reviewed the entire checklist, when suddenly a troop carrier moved through the encoded city shield — and they only way it could have done that was with the proper clearance.

"Paz," she whispered, and ran out of the cockpit, and jumped down the ladder and out the hold ramp.

Two jet packed warriors lifted out of the descending troop deployer and flew down to meet her. One had the unmistakable height of Paz, the other was large but had entirely different intricately painted markings on his armor, which had to be the visitor from Clan Wren.

Cara smiled as they landed just in front of her. She walked right up to Paz, who removed his helmet and smiled.

"Paz, I can't express how much your arrival means to the warriors who have been fighting for days — and to me," Cara put a hand on his arm.

Paz nodded back with a smile, "And I am indebted to you for life, for watching over my family. Thank you."

Cara nodded and then turned to the second warrior who did not remove his helmet.

"Cara, this is Tristan of Clan Wren, his Clan is also of House Vizsla. He brings our mighty ship, as well as the coordinates that you need for your journey."

Tristan gave her a slight bow. "You were a Rebellion shock trooper? The Daughter of Alderaan?"

Cara nodded, "The former is over. But, I will always be a Daughter of Alderaan."

"I can smell House Vizsla!" Din shouted from the hovercart he and Tarre were riding on, pushed along by the Armorer and Greef Karga.

Paz looked up and forced out a laugh, but his eyes betrayed his feelings about the state of Din's health. He pulled Din off the cart and into an embrace.

Paz then gave the Armorer a slight bow, "It is good to see you restored."

The Armorer nodded, "And you as well."

Then Paz turned to look at Greef Karga, whom he had fought against for Din and Tarre, and then his Tribe had suffered. "It is good you have reclaimed your honor, Karga."

Karga bowed to both men, "Nevarro is forever indebted to Mandalore for their aid. The Tribe will have equal share in the government from this day forward. We must fight together to remove this weapon from the galaxy and safeguard Mandalore."

Din smiled to himself, then turned toward Tristan and put out his arm, "We've never met, Tristan, but your aid on this day can never be repaid."

Tristan took Din's arm and shook it. "And your quest and actions are equally esteemed. I personally thank you, for taking a mission that I have longed to complete for years, but as you can see," pointing up to his ship, "Clan Wren has been otherwise occupied."

Din nodded, "We have little time. What do you know of Sabine's mission?" Din's legs were going to falter, so he moved to sit again on the hovercart. Paz and Tristan exchanged glances.

Din continued, "What has kept her away with this Jedi for so many years?"

Tristan cleared his throat, "She had two Jedi friends who accompanied her and the Dark Saber first to Clan Wren then to Bo-Katan before the Battle of Yavin, when the weapon, The Duchess, was last used against us." Tristan hesitated slightly knowing he was speaking to another survivor of the Duchess' wrath.

"One of her Jedi friends perished during an attack on the TIE Defender factory on Lothal, and the other perished as he destroyed Admiral Thrawn during the liberation of Lothal. But, after the Battle of Endor, Sabine became obsessed with the idea that he was still alive. And the Force wielder fed into these fantasies, saying she had seen visions of Ezra still alive. They left together and Sabine left me only the ship signature."

Tristan opened his hand to Din, revealing a data chip. "This is all the flight data that we have been able to gather. It's strange, almost non-sensical, as if they were wandering, not on a direct navigation course. They moved out into the unknown regions over a year ago."

Din took the drive, then turned and handed it to Cara. He looked back at Tristan, "I cannot speak for your sister, I know how it feels to be driven to a mission you do not fully understand. But I swear I will do everything in my power to relate to her the dire circumstances we are facing. And she will see before her what the Duchess has done."

Tristan stood up straighter, "Trust me, Sabine knows all too well what the Duchess can do. So if she hesitates, please tell her that I personally begged for her to come home."

Paz suddenly saw a signal on his vambrace, and looked up at Din with excitement and tension in his eyes, "Zaral and her team have infiltrated the Star Destroyer computer, it's time for you to go!"

The Armorer quickly moved Din's hovercart up the ramp and into the hold, then followed Cara up into the cockpit. She helped Cara finish her embarking sequence and then Cara stood up again to face the Armorer.

The Armorer reached out and took Cara's forearm in hers, "A true comrade in arms, and a sister, _Ret'urcye mhi_. I feel certain we will meet again."

Cara gripped her arm back and smiled. "Until our paths cross, sister."

The Armorer rushed back down the ladder and then joined Karga and Tristan who waved from below, "Safe journey!"

Paz, however, had followed Din and Tarre up the ramp and helped Din off the hovercart and steadied him by gripping the ladder after the Armorer passed by. Then Paz picked up Tarre and bumped foreheads with him. Tarre cooed sadly.

"Tarre-Haal, _Aliit ori'shya tal'din_. Family is more than blood."

Paz handed Tarre over to to Din who held him in his left elbow. Then Paz reached out and took Din's helmet between his hands and rested his forehead against Din's.

"_K'oyacyi, Vod_," Paz said, Stay alive, brother.

"_K'oyacyi,_" Din repeated, Stay alive.

Paz backed away from Din, his lips moving from a sad smile to a firm resolved frown as he put on his helmet. Then he activated his Rising Phoenix and flew off the ramp as Tristan also jetted back up toward the troop carrier hovering above. Cara closed the hold ramp as she powered up the engines. Paz rose up to Cara's level in the cockpit and saluted her and she saluted back.

Tarre looked back at Din with a small smile before he jumped right up into the command deck, completely skipping the ladder. Din chuckled, but then faced the task of climbing the ladder without help. He took a brief break in the middle but managed it much better than he thought he would. He managed to make it to his seat in the secondary ops position before Cara cleared the atmosphere. Tarre was already in his hoverpram where Cara had set it in his usual seat.

Din sat down and reached over to grip Cara's shoulder before she gunned the engines heading straight for the hyperspace lanes.

"Now or never, boys!" She flipped her local comms, "This is Razor Crest to Nevarro Command and Keldabe Battleship. Stay strong, win the day!"

"Confirmed Razor Crest, we've got you, safe journey," and immediately suppressive fire erupted from the guns on the Battleship and created an opening for Cara to easily rocket for the hyperspace lane.

"Three seconds, boys! Three — two — one!"

Paz and Tristan watched from the troop carrier as the Razor Crest streaked across the sky into hyperspace.

"They are away… thank you," Paz whispered into his comm.

* * *

Din seemed even more subdued after they left Nevarro. Cara was familiar with this part of his personality and she let him be. He worked on the ops position for an hour or two at a time analyzing the flight data Tristan had given them. When his legs started aching from sitting for too long, he would go down the ladder to the sleeping bunk that the Armorer had modified for him. The bunk was moved lower for ease of movement in and out of the bunk, and the padding augmented for improved comfort. Cara had also added a second bunk just inside the upper cargo hold and augmented the refresher restoring the walls for privacy. The practical issues that come with having additional crew on such a utilitarian ship had not really occurred to Din in a long time. After Paz had left the ship and refused to fly with him it had seemed unnecessary.

His early data analysis had been so fruitless he did not even bother to tell Cara any of his results. She assumed he was simply needed more time, and continued her heading to the starting point of their flight data which was Lothal. After that, they would have to finish the analysis and decide whether or not to follow the entire flight path to try to understand what the ship was following, or use the most direct hyperspace route all the way to the edge of the unknown regions.

Skirting the outer rim from Nevarro to Lothal was an thirteen day journey with multiple hyperspace jumps requiring accurate navigation and skill. But they developed a comfortable routine trading off monitoring the navigation sensors and entertaining Tarre. Tarre loved to look at the star maps with Din or Cara and would point at locations and squeak asking for planets to be named over and over again.

Din also worked hard on continuing to improve his conditioning as his nutrition improved. Cara developed a workout routine they did together in the upper cargo hold and by the end of the first week he added shadow boxing with Cara. The boxing helped with his frustration at leaving his brother and his people behind to fight. They had only one message from Paz three days after they left Nevarro and it said, _Plans recovered_.

Nearing the end of the journey to Lothal there was a lot of pent up energy so another boxing session ensued. When Din was finally breathless and exhausted Cara stopped him, but Din was feeling the best he had felt since the Duchess. He reached up and touched gloves with Cara and she smiled.

"Hey, go clean up. I'm going to finish my watch. Let me know when you're done so we can switch. C'mon Tarre."

Din nodded still trying to catch his breath, as she picked up the kid and walked out of the upper cargo hold and straight into the cockpit. Din eased himself down the ladder.

An hour passed and she soon felt fatigue overtaking her. She checked the time, and she realized Din had never let her know he was ready to take over. She quietly descended the ladder and immediately heard snoring. She chuckled and decided to splash some water on her face in the refresher before returning to her post until he woke up so they could properly discuss their schedule. Besides she had really given him a workout, she frowned thinking it may have been too intense for him.

As soon as she had filled the sink with water and tossed just one splash over her face there was suddenly a blood-curdling scream from up on the command deck. It tore through her chest and soul. She burst out of the refresher with water still dripping off her face and jumped up on the ladder just as Din opened the privacy door of the sleep bunk.

"TARRE?" He yelled out, struggling to move as quickly as Cara had.

Cara lept through the cockpit doors and found Tarre writhing around in his pram, and still asleep.

"Tarre! Wake up!" Cara cried.

"_BUIR!_" The word tore out of his mouth absolutely clearly, just as Din made it breathlessly to the cockpit door. Tarre sat up straight, panting and moaning, and Cara picked him up to comfort him.

Cara stared at Din with her mouth open, "Did he just speak?"

Din nodded, "Yes," and he sat heavily at the ops chair again. "He said, 'Father,' in Mando'a."

"Oh! Okay, he wants you!" Cara said and quickly turned back to hand Tarre over to Din.

"_Udesiir… udesiir, ad'ika_," Din said quietly putting Tarre over his shoulder and drawing a slow circle on his back with his fingers.

Cara wiped the rest of the water from her face, and watched them, letting the picture of father comforting son to calm her heart rate. Then the hyperspace timer started to beep, notifying them that they were less than ten minutes to their destination.

"Coming up on Lothal," Cara started adjusting switches and watched the countdown. "We should stop for supplies and fuel before we head out to the wild regions."

She eased the Razor Crest out of hyperspace and then maneuvered them to the ship yards of Capital City. Lothal like so many other planets had been literally burned by the Empire, but was having a renaissance after finally being left alone for the people to prosper on their own.

After completing the landing sequence she turned back to Din and Tarre, "You two going to stay here?"

Din looked at Tarre who was still squirming in his arms, and then nodded, "Yeah, there's something wrong with him. I'll stay. We will decide which route to take from here."

Cara nodded, "Okay. I'll shower when I get back then." She got up and headed to grab her bag in the upper cargo hold, and then lowered the side ramp taking a hovercart with her.

Din got up and paced with Tarre in the cockpit.

"Talk to me, _ad'ika_. What upset you so much?"

Tarre just continued to trill sadly, keeping his eyes closed.

"Okay, then why don't we get to work? Want to help me plot our next hyperspace jump?"

Din switched the display back on and pulled up the flight data. "Look, remember this?" He pointed to the planet at the start of the flight data. "This is Lothal, where we are now."

Tarre peeked open his eyes. Din caught him looking and smiled to himself.

"Should we go to Taragon? Or Malagarr?" He pointed to planets on the star charts.

Tarre looked up at Din with folded ears and shook his head.

"Where to next then?"

Tarre looked at the chart, and then pointed far out into the uncharted wild region.

"There? But there's no planet."

Tarre looked up at Din and then back to the charts and pointed to the same place.

Din zoomed in on the sector Tarre was pointing to, but there was minimal data on that place. It was an empty fifteen hundred parsecs. He looked down at Tarre.

"What do you see there, Tarre?"

Tarre looked up at him and blinked. He reached out with his tiny hand and put it on Din's chest. Then he closed his eyes and searched in Din's mind for the right word to describe what he was seeing…

_Space whales — purrgils_.

Din stared at Tarre for a few seconds. Then he zoomed back out and looked at the flight pattern of the ship. Then he looked back at Tarre.

"They've been tracking the movement of purrgils. The pattern is — organic — not nonsense. Tarre you are — amazing!"

He gave Tarre a rub on his head and Tarre finally giggled for the first time since his nightmare. Din remembered the nightmare suddenly.

"Tarre how did you know? Were you dreaming about the whales?"

Tarre frowned and shrugged.

Din picked him up off his lap and set him up on the console so he could look at him eye to eye.

"You said your first word. You said, _Buir,_" Din whispered, Tarre looked away from him, "Hey, _ad'ika_, what were you dreaming about?"

Tarre kept his eyes and ears down and would not look at Din.

"Okay, you don't have to tell me," He picked up Tarre and put him back on his lap, and then whispered, "If you need to — you can tell me any time."

They sat there in silence while Din plotted the exact location where Tarre had pointed to. Din had Tarre point again until they had narrowed down the area to a less than ten parsec cubic area of space.

* * *

By the time Cara returned from a very successful shopping trip she was unloading in the lower cargo hold and organizing their food stores when she heard Din coming down from the command deck.

"Cara, let me help," Din walked in with Tarre on his shoulder. "Wow, do we have any credits left?"

Cara laughed, "It doesn't hurt to be prepared, we have no idea where we will end up."

"Actually we know exactly where we are going." Din looked over at Tarre, "Do you want to tell her?"

Tarre flapped his ears.

Cara looked back and forth between them, "Tell me what?"

Din turned back to Cara, "Tarre chose our heading. And he figured out the flight pattern."

Cara's eyes went wide. "What is it? Where are we going?"

"We are going to find the purrgils."

They showed Cara the flight path and Tarre pointed to their goal once again she shrugged and said, "That's only six days away in hyperspace. There isn't a lane or much data but we can make short local jumps and plot as we go. Let's go!"

They started with only the jump to the edge of known space, then they plotted two more jumps with the navigation computer. Din once again wished he had a droid on board for the calculations. He made a mental note that he was going to have to start interviewing candidates at their next stop at a space port.

After two dozen jumps Tarre suddenly was up on the command console and had his face and hands up against the glass.

"Do you see anything kid?"

Din zoomed in on the area of space he was staring at. "I can't see anything yet, move forward on thrusters."

Cara flew by monitoring where Tarre was looking, if he looked straight she flew straight, if he looked up she flew up. Then suddenly Din saw some movement with his telescopic visual display.

"There!" He pointed in the same direction Tarre was looking, so Cara increased thruster speed.

Within minutes they approached the first few whales but before them was a field of thousands upon thousands of whales in every direction.

All three of them were breathless with awe at the beauty of the animals. They flowed through space gently, their long tendril legs rippling behind them. Tarre was silent for almost a half hour as they flew along with the whales, carefully moving between them as they progressed past thousands of the pod.

Then suddenly Tarre became excited and pointed in a specific direction. He jumped up and down and squeaked and cried until they moved up closer to one particular whale with green, purple and pink markings. Cara moved up closer and level to the whale's eye. Then suddenly Tarre put up a hand toward the whale and slowly closed his eyes.

Cara and Din turned to look at each other.

"What is going on?" Cara whispered.

Din shrugged his shoulders, "Looks like we are using the Force to find our way."

But then the proximity alarms started going off and made Cara jump.

"Um, guys, Tarre's new friend is getting a little too up close and personal! She's put a couple tendrils on the hull of the ship!"

Din picked up Tarre, "Tarre you have to tell her to stop!"

Tarre did not respond, his eyes were still closed and his hand was still up.

More tendrils wrapped around the ship and the hull began to groan, then a large tendril covered half of the cockpit.

"Tarre, I hope you know what you're doing kid!" Cara yelled as she cringed with every groan of the hull.

Din found himself holding Tarre even closer as the tendrils all started to pulse and glow, then without a single calculation of a computer, they were in hyperspace.

"What is happening?" Cara lifted her hands off the controls and tried desperately to see around the glowing tendrils.

"Are we using any fuel?" Din was suddenly intrigued.

Cara checked the gauges, "No, apparently we are only using hers!"

Din checked his charts and his jaw dropped open. They were moving faster than he had ever heard of before, they had already crossed almost three thousand parsecs, in just seconds.

And then suddenly, it was over. They were back in normal space, and they were approaching another pod of whales.

Tarre squeaked in Din's arms, and he was smiling. He turned back to the command console and pointed at the new pod they were moving into. His friend loosened her grip but still pulled them along.

Din brought Tarre back to the command console and stood next to Cara as they flew, then suddenly had an idea.

"This is the Razor Crest, to any and all craft in this area. This is the Razor Crest. We are searching for Sabine Wren. If you can hear us please respond."

There was nothing but static.

"This is the Razor Crest, to any and all craft in this area. This is the Razor Crest. We are searching for Sabine Wren. If you can hear us please respond. I bring an urgent message from Mandalore, and your brother, Tristan."

Suddenly the whales parted in front of their guide whale and in visual range was an Old Republic ship.

"Razor Crest, this is Ahsoka Tano, and I am here with Sabine Wren. It seems you have a child of the Force with you."


	6. Chapter 14 - THE FORCE

CHAPTER 14: THE FORCE

Tarre sat on the command console with his hand up and eyes closed talking to the purrgils the entire time Cara and Sabine worked on connecting the ship to ship portals. Din watched him as he occasionally squeaked, laughed, and even moaned sadly.

Din felt left outside this secret conversation and they hadn't even had a real discussion with Ahsoka Tano yet. Din felt an ache in his core beginning, but he pushed it down and got up to check on how Cara was faring down in the hold.

He called down the ladder, "Can I help?"

Cara called back up, "Almost got it!" Just then, the portal opened, and Ahsoka and Sabine were looking up at Cara.

Cara smiled, "Sorry about the smell, ladies. I'm stuck in here with two boys."

Ahsoka and Sabine looked at each other and started laughing.

Din, once again, felt left outside this secret conversation. He sighed and then went back into the cockpit to pick up Tarre and bring him into the lower hold.

Din eased himself down the ladder with Tarre on his shoulder. The three girls all stood there looking at him. Din cleared his throat.

"We have a lot to talk about. I suggest we sit," they all sat on various boxes and bins on the hold, and then Din took a deep breath.

"My name is Din Djarin, I'm a Foundling of Clan Vizsla, brother to Paz Vizsla. This is Cara Dune, former Rebellion Shock Trooper, and Daughter of Alderaan," Sabine and Ahsoka looked over at Cara who nodded back at them.

"And this is Tarre-Haal Vizsla, my Foundling, and the Force sensitive child you sensed, Ahsoka."

Ahsoka nodded slowly and smiled at Tarre who nodded back, with a big toothy grin.

"We sought you out because we have two needs. The first is to seek guidance on how we can train and guide Tarre-Haal — for the rest of his lifespan." Ahsoka gave Din a small smile, and looked down.

"And second, Sabine, your brother sent me to beg you to return. The plans for the Duchess were found by Moff Gideon, and the weapon was used to kill Mandalorians on Nevarro. I was among those hit by the weapon. I am only alive because Tarre-Haal destroyed the Duchess used against my Tribe."

Sabine's brows came down, "But — I destroyed the Saxon prototype myself!"

Din shook his head, "Moff Gideon apparently had access to archives of the Saxon Clan and found the project funded by Grand Admiral Thrawn. We fear there are more weapons to be used against Mandalore. We have only just begun to Rebuild our world. We need your help to work on a defense against this weapon."

Sabine's face fell and her eyes closed, "I will never be able to escape my past." She turned toward Ahsoka, "I must return."

Ahsoka nodded. "Our mission will have to wait. But we will leave our friends to continue the search for Ezra."

Cara's brow creased, "Friends?"

Ahsoka looked back at Cara and smiled, "The purrgil." She looked down at Tarre and he squealed and laughed.

Din felt another small pang, but nodded until he saw that Ahsoka zeroed in on Tarre and he toddled over to her. It took every ounce of his self control to stop himself from reaching out to hold Tarre back.

Tarre reached up a hand and Ahsoka put out hers until Tarre grabbed her finger with his tiny claws. She immediately closed her eyes and her face became tense. Everyone watched the exchange and held their breath. Din's hands twitched as he watched, his heart rate accelerated.

Ahsoka's face became more tense and her brows came down, and then finally she gasped and opened her eyes but looked down at Tarre with a genuinely warm smile. Then she looked up directly at Din.

"Din Djarin — 'you — are as his father,'" she smiled as she quoted the Armorer's words. "Would you like to hear his story?"

Din stared at her, holding his breath, he could not answer. He could barely think.

Cara leaned in, "Yes, the answer is yes, we would all love to hear his story."

Din turned to glare at Cara who sat back again but could not suppress a smile and looked away from his gaze.

"However," Cara added, "I'm sorry, I know this is going be a long story, so can we just all agree, we are headed straight back home?"

Everyone nodded.

Cara smiled, "And is there any chance that we can ask our purrgil buddies to shuttle us all the way back to Nevarro? I'm pretty sure it will be faster than how we got here."

Ahsoka nodded, "I'm certain that can be arranged."

Sabine stood up, "I will ready the drone pilot controls, then rejoin you and separate the ships to make it easy for them," and she jumped down through the ship to ship portal.

Cara looked sideways at Din as he retreated into his stoic silence, and his hands still twitched as if he wanted to grab Tarre and run.

Ahsoka and Tarre were both sitting with eyes closed, talking to the purrgil. Tarre was giggling again.

When Sabine reappeared she tossed their travel bags in ahead of her, closed the hatch behind her, and then used her vambrace to completely separate the two ships and then she and Cara moved up to the command deck and monitored the movement of the whales.

"We've got two more guide friends! Looks like they are all three engaging with both ships! And — we are off!"

Din was suddenly very conflicted with how successful they had been on their mission and wasn't sure how to stop the gnawing ache in his core. He almost felt nauseous and tried to take a few deep breaths to help it dissipate — but it didn't work.

"Din — you okay buddy?" Cara suddenly put a hand on his shoulder."

Din looked up and realized all of them were staring at him. "Uh, yeah, fine."

"It's almost time for a meal, you need some food?"

Din put up his hands, "No, I'm good. Let's just get back to Tarre, ok?"

Cara squeezed his shoulder, and then sat down again with Sabine, and they all turned to look at Ahsoka and Tarre again.

Ahsoka smiled, "Tarre has very few impressions of his early childhood. I do not know where he is from, but I can tell you when I trained at the Jedi Temple I met one of his species. His name was Master Yoda, and he was — the oldest living Master of the Force in the Order."

Din suddenly felt even more nauseous, his fears confirmed, "How old?"

"Over nine hundred years when he died of natural causes," Ahsoka said quietly.

Tarre looked back at Din, and Din knew Tarre could feel his distress.

"Could Master — Yoda — be Tarre's relative?" Din whispered.

Ahsoka shook her head, "No, based on what Tarre can remember, he was stolen at a very young age from whatever home he knew. He was taken by a stranger, and that was the first time the Empire held him. He was taken to Emperor Palpatine's Force sensitives project, where he was conditioned as a child of the Force to serve the Emperor's purposes as an Inquisator. I fought many of the children reared in that program, and they have hunted down many former Jedi to their deaths."

Sabine nodded, "My Jedi friends were also hunted by the Force sensitive Inquisators from that program."

Din frowned, "So he was trained as a Sith?"

Ahsoka shook her head, "No, but he was trained _by_ a Sith and others who serve the Dark Side — including my former Master."

Din looked down, "So his early influence by the Sith is why he —"

Ahsoka nodded, "— Tried to choke Cara. An early lesson he was taught was somehow triggered by that incident, it was an echo of his past." Ahsoka turned to Cara, "But that incident is prominent in his memory as a grave regret. His deep love for you both now significantly outweighs all of his prior conditioning."

Din looked back up, "How long was he there? How did he escape?"

Ahsoka frowned, "My former Master and I actually found and destroyed one facility at the end of the Clone Wars, but apparently there were many. He was there twenty years. But with the Death of the Emperor, someone else came and took him, and I recognize the uniform in his memory as someone from the Imperial Security Bureau."

Cara put both hands down on the box she was sitting on, "Are you kidding me?"

Ahsoka shook her head.

"That piece of —" Cara spat out and growled.

And the clues were falling into place, why Gideon was so anxious to get his hands on Tarre, why he meant so much to him…

"Did he use Tarre to heal himself?" Din gritted his teeth.

Ahsoka nodded.

"Over and over?" Din had to swallow to keep the bile down in his throat.

Ahsoka nodded.

Din looked over at Cara, "'_He can't be killed_.'" Cara looked up and groaned. Din turned back to Ahsoka, "So, how did he escape? Or was he stolen by someone else?"

"He was with Gideon for almost six years. And then apparently he was stolen from Gideon during a Rebellion attack, and then stolen again by pirates. His memory is confusing during that time. Changing hands twice kept him hidden from Gideon for a few years, but then the pirates realized they had a prize and they offered him for ransom, the attacker began on the compound where he was held —and then — you appeared."

Din nodded, "My guess is the Client decided to use the Guild because he did not have the forces to storm the compound. But it looks like he was not quiet enough about it, and Gideon got word."

Ahsoka frowned, "You have sacrificed so much for Tarre, Din Djarin, and given him so much love and care. He has blossomed in the Force since you have been together, and he is only getting stronger."

Din sighed, "But I — I'm only going to live maybe — "

"Another thirty years? Yes. But then, I will only live another fifty. Jedi training started for Master Yoda around age one hundred. The Jedi do not want to start training too old, but they also do not want to start too young. Individuals have more empathy and understand the philosophy better when they have been loved and nurtured during their early development."

For the first time Din saw a ray of hope. "But — he will still need training."

Ahsoka nodded. "There is a young Jedi who is trying to re-establish a Jedi Order on Yavin."

Din was taken aback by that news, "The Order has returned?"

Ahsoka shrugged, "Perhaps not in the classic sense, but he is working on reestablishing the old teachings."

Din shook his head, "But the Order and Mandalore are old enemies. Tarre-Haal is named for —"

"—Tarre Vizsla. The Jedi who created the Dark Saber. I know the story. Believe me, the new Jedi Order are not seeking old enemies as well. And besides, a member of a Mandalorian Clan added to their ranks would be completing a circle that was broken by the downfall of the Jedi Tarre Vizsla. "

Din took in another deep breath. "So we go to Yavin."

Ahsoka nodded, "When the time is right. The Force will guide you."

Din looked over at Tarre who cocked his head slightly and flapped his ears happily. Din sighed, to see his happiness was worth the entire journey.

"Ahsoka Tano…thank you."

Ahsoka smiled again, "If it's okay, I'm going to keep talking with him during our ride back. It's hard to keep him on topic, and he's quite a stream of consciousness chatter box. But if I learn anything new I will alert you."

* * *

Cara brought Sabine and Ahsoka with Tarre up to the command deck to give Din a chance to eat and rest. Din's mind was buzzing but after finally eating he was out.

"Trust me, hungry and tired Mandalorian is not much fun," then she turned back to Sabine, "No offense!"

Sabine laughed, "None taken! I know exactly what you mean."

"As do I," Ahsoka laughed, and Sabine kicked her, then they all laughed.

Cara sighed, "So, as you can see, our boy is losing his mind right now because he is desperate not to lose his little boy," She reached over and touched Tarre's nose as he sat on Ahsoka's lap, and he squeaked happily.

Ahsoka smiled, "How is his healing?"

Cara shrugged, "The last time I sneaked a medscan on him while he was sleeping, he actually is significantly improved from when we left Nevarro. The Duchess had damaged every muscle in his body, including his smooth muscle around his gastrointestinal system and his heart. But when his digestion improved, his muscle mass rebounded. Then his mass improved strength, and more strength helped him build cardiac stamina. I don't think I'll be able to sucker punch him again anytime soon, but I'm trying to think positively that he will be able to take a couple of rounds with me eventually."

Sabine felt her blood going cold as Cara described the damage the Duchess had done to a Mandalorian warrior.

"Sabine, you're here to help. We are grateful we found you," Cara said kindly.

Sabine still frowned, "It doesn't change the fact that my weapon has killed and damaged so many of my people. And it is entirely my fault."

Cara sighed, "I refused a direct order and a high ranking official died."

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes, "I think I can hear you saying, a high ranking _corrupt_ official."

Cara frowned, "It does not change the fact that my actions led to his death. And ultimately I will never know how that affected the soldiers under his command. I hope for the better, but nothing will ever make that better."

Sabine frowned, "I sabotaged the original prototype and destroyed the plans while I was at the Imperial Academy on Mandalore. And I thought the Saxon prototype was destroyed when I slashed it with the Dark Saber. It exploded half of the dome city. I'm afraid that no matter what I do — it will continue to wreak havoc."

"We will find a way, Sabine," Ahsoka said calmly.

Sabine shook her head, "I have to find a way to detect the Duchess with enough time to pinpoint it and destroy it before it has enough power to zero in on any beskar armor — but even that seems impractical. It's a matter of seconds between powering up and destruction," she looked up at Cara, "does Din still have his beskar? Or was it destroyed?"

Cara jumped up and went into the upper cargo hold, and returned with Din's pauldron with his sigil. Tarre immediately reached out for the pauldron and squealed, but Sabine took it and inspected it.

"Needs a paint job. But beautiful craftsmanship," Sabine ran her fingers over the metal, "The beskar can actually _feel_ the arc generator as it powers up, the metal ions start to react and pick up charge which is part of what draws the arc to this metal faster than other armor metals. I wonder if I could find a way to add a shield mechanism, to the armor, that activates as soon as the arc generator starts to affect the metal itself! That way we would not have to always have a detection system to take out the Duchess after we have already lost warriors!"

Cara's eyes were wide, "How about both? A personal shield system AND a Duchess detection and elimination program? One that can be programmed into any gun or canon system? Ground and air?"

Ahsoka and Tarre looked at each other, "Let's let these two get to work."

* * *

Din woke up after several hours and felt disoriented. Tarre was not with him, and he heard voices outside his privacy bunk. The chatter was at once soothing and also disconcerting. He wasn't much for chatter. But he also had a feeling that he was going to be forced to answer more questions than he wanted to if he participated. And keeping an eye on Tarre was going to require that he participated.

The desire to check on Tarre was the primary motivation that forced him to put his boots back on and open the sleeping bunk privacy door.

When he stepped out of the bunk for a moment all was quiet. Then he turned toward the lower cargo hold and realized that Ahsoka and Tarre were kneeling and facing each other with their eyes closed. And then he noticed that several large storage containers were floating above them. Any of them would crush Tarre or seriously injure Ahsoka if they fell down on top of them and Din had to keep his hands in check watching this activity to prevent himself from snatching the containers out of the air. Instead he worked hard to calm himself, and then he sat down on a container in the main hold and just observed. The containers flowed, rolled, and danced around the ceiling. Din tried to see the beauty in it rather than the safety hazard. He looked at Tarre's face and saw only placid calm. Din suddenly felt a strong pang of guilt, thinking of what Tarre had been through, and then the guilt was quickly replaced with fresh anger that burned his soul. Gideon would pay for what he had done.

* * *

Ahsoka was guiding Tarre through his visions, and he apparently had been having more and more since he met Din and he had felt safe and loved. Tarre had very little context and so a lot of his visions were sensory impressions. Sounds, voices, heat and cold, and emotions of every color.

Ahsoka could see he had been seeing the purrgil in his visions for months, but did not have any context for them until they headed to the unknown regions. She could also see that he had been seeing the Jedi Temple at Yavin and the Temple at Lothal for years. He also had a very shadowed area in this mind, and her initial impression was that area held the time he had spent in Palpatine's captivity. Most of his mind he filled with all of the experiences and love and affection from life since his _Buir_ saved him from the Client.

However, there was also some visions that Tarre was clearly avoiding, and they felt like visions of the future. Tarre resisted looking at them with Ahsoka. He almost flatly denied her access.

_Tarre, you must name your fears. Knowing them is how you prevent them from ever having power over you. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate. A very wise Master I knew — who looked just like you — once taught me that. And my Master failed to learn that lesson. So let this be the first lesson I give to you_.

Tarre hesitated, _But will it come true?_

Ahsoka frowned, _No one can truly predict the future. Visions change_.

Tarre's ears drooped sadly, _Buir will die_.

Ahsoka smiled, _We will all die someday. We can only decide what to do with our time while we are alive_.

Tarre's head bowed, _Ba'vodu will die_.

Ahsoka nodded, _Yes, your uncle will die someday as well_.

Tarre frowned, _Where will I go if my new family all die? Only Buir knows how to keep the mean people away. _

Ahsoka reached out and took his two tiny hands in between her thumbs and first fingers, _Tarre, you will never be completely alone and afraid — ever — again_.

Tarre brightened slightly. _When I'm lonely sometimes I talk to the voices in the space with the doors and walkways_.

Ahsoka's brows creased, _Doors and walkways? Do you mean the World Between Worlds? Have you been there?_

Tarre shook his head, _No but I can hear them, like they are on the other side of a door I'm standing next to. Sometimes they warn me of things. Sometimes they help me. I think they guided Buir to me._

Ahsoka smiled. _Will you show me the vision you are so afraid of?_

Tarre nodded. And then he bowed his head.

_The first image was of the Dark Saber, it was bright and shone in the darkness. It hummed as it moved. And then it moved closer to Din Djarin, slowly cutting into him as he screamed._

_NO!_

Ahsoka pushed all of the containers out and away from them as she let them drop onto the cargo hold floor. Her heart pounded and she gasped trying to catch her breath.

"Ahsoka? Are you alright?" She felt Din's hand on her shoulder, and she reached out to him.

Cara and Sabine appeared jumping down from the command deck.

"Everyone ok?" Cara said scanning all three of them.

"Tarre —" Ahsoka turned toward Tarre and saw him looking down at the ground with completely folded ears.

Din immediately crossed over to Tarre and scooped him up into his arms.

"What is going on? What is wrong?" Din demanded.

Ahsoka took a deep breath and expelled it, then looked up at Din.

"I'm sure you have guessed by now — Tarre is having visions of your death."


	7. Chapter 15 - THE DARKSABER

CHAPTER 15: THE DARK SABER

"Never forget, our interpretations are often colored by our fears," Ahsoka said firmly. "I once had a vision that a close friend of my Master would be killed by a bounty hunter while at a peace conference during the Clone Wars. The bounty hunter did attempt to murder her, but working together, my friend and I made certain that future never happened."

Ahsoka looked directly into Tarre's eyes as she spoke. "What you saw might be one of multiple possible futures, and what you saw might not be the death of your _Buir_. So try with me to find more detail, more information, anything that might help us. Okay?"

Tarre looked very unsure, but he nodded slowly. And Din reluctantly put Tarre back down so he could sit with Ahsoka for a while longer as she continued to work with Tarre on his visions.

They worked for another hour before Ahsoka finally put a stop to the lesson. Tarre was exhausted mentally and emotionally, and Ahsoka brought him curled up into a tight ball to Din where he immediately began to snore.

Din looked up at Ahsoka, "Is he okay?"

Ahsoka frowned, "He is even stronger than you already know, Din. He carries a lot of knowledge of the past and the future. He does not understand it all, and he has a very hard time sorting what is helpful, but only experience tells us how to sort through everything the Force tells us." She looked back at Din. "Being with you has given him more experience and context than the first fifty years of his life combined. He needs your love and care to help him understand what the future will hold."

Din looked back down at Tarre, "So his vision could be wrong?"

Ahsoka shook her head, "No, his vision was clear. You will be struck by the Dark Saber. But Master Yoda used to say the future is always in motion. We must be mindful of all possible outcomes."

She put a hand on Din's shoulder and left Din to cradle Tarre in his arms on the sleeping bunk.

* * *

To avoid detection the group decided to stay in hyperspace and remain radio silent for the duration of the trip back to Nevarro.

Din had to keep checking the tracker in order to reassure himself their rate of travel was real. It had taken almost three weeks to find Ahsoka and Sabine, but at their return rate of speed they would arrive in less than a week.

Ahsoka worked with Tarre on his focus and communication, so he could express to anyone exactly what he needed. Previously he would focus on only one thought, but communicating concepts and conducting dialogue was more difficult. His first few attempts with Din and Cara were more of an onslaught of his "stream of consciousness" which they both struggled to understand. Tarre was becoming frustrated, and Din found himself forced to keep his own aggravation in check to help deal with Tarre's emotional state.

Din and Cara had increased their workout schedule, partly to work out his stress, and also because he had decided he wanted to start wearing his armor again. He started with the pauldrons and thigh guards only, but within a few days he had the back plate on as well. The weight was familiar and reassuring, but he felt the strain.

Cara pushed Din harder than he was comfortable with, but it also forced him to aim higher, and he knew better than to push back or push her away.

Sabine developed two beskar shield prototypes on their journey, and developed a plan to test them once they returned to Nevarro where she could find a way to create an arc generator capable of demonstrating the full potential of the Duchess against her new shields.

When they were down to less than a day left before they would be orbiting Nevarro none of the group could sleep, except Tarre, of course.

Ahsoka was in the cockpit, Tarre was snoozing in his pram at ops, Cara and Sabine were working on her Duchess targeting program at the secondary ops position, and Din was boxing in the upper hold with his partial beskar on.

Din was focusing on movement with the armor, and cardiovascular stamina. He was punching a milled grain bag with bare knuckles, and thinking about the dream he had about the Dark Saber the morning he woke after his encounter with the Duchess. He had seen Gideon. He had seen the Dark Saber. And he had felt that the Saber would strike him down.

He took to heart Ahsoka's words, that his fears would affect his interpretation of his dream. He also felt keenly her words that his influence would affect Tarre's view on the galaxy for the rest of his long life.

Din had been so focused on avenging what Gideon had done, not only to his home, his Tribe, but to Tarre and to himself. And he knew that even his brother was set on avenging Mandalore, exacting restitution for the torture he had endured, and for the threat to his family. Din was beginning to realize, however, that cycle of revenge was not the last lesson that he wanted to teach Tarre.

The thought of what that legacy would do, especially in the hands of a very powerful being like Tarre, over the millennium of his lifespan made Din question everything, and caused a self-examination he had never attempted before. If he was going to die on the Dark Saber, sooner rather than later, Din wanted Tarre to have respect for life, even of his enemies. Even if Gideon killed Din. And therefore, his motivation going into this fight had to change — completely.

"Din? You okay?"

He blinked, turned around and saw Sabine and Cara staring at him.

"Yeah, why? Was I too loud?"

The girls looked at each other, and Sabine shrugged.

"Well, you _were_ too loud, and then suddenly you stopped, and you were too _quiet_. We came in to make sure you didn't hurt yourself, and instead you're standing here alone — staring at a grain bag."

Din looked at the grain bag, then back at them. He considered talking to them about the Dark Saber, but decided he wasn't ready to share on that level just yet.

"Grain bag isn't putting up much of a fight."

Sabine laughed out loud, "So — that sounded a lot like Clan Vizsla challenging Clan Wren! Too bad I can't use my jet pack in here!"

Cara sat down on a bin next to the wall with a piece of chalk, "I'll keep score! Mando v. Mando!" She called out to the cockpit, "Don't worry Ahsoka this won't take long!"

Din looked back at Cara, "Don't get too comfortable scorekeeper, I'm coming for you when I'm done with this Wren!"

Din almost managed to defeat Sabine, but she was faster with her vambraces. And he took a sound beating from Cara, but she did give him a solid nod after he tapped out for the last time.

"You're getting there. You gonna put on the full cuirass before we get back?"

Din was drenched with sweat once again, gasping for breath, but he shrugged, "I think I'll do a few workouts with the Armorer when I get back and then give it a try."

Cara nodded, "Tired of me kicking your ass, then?"

Din looked at her, "No. You just fight dirty."

Cara laughed, and without thinking she sucker punched him, then immediately regretted it as he folded in on himself. But, he was actually choking out laughter as he groaned in pain so she threw him down on the ground and walked out.

"Go shower! You smell!"

* * *

The moment they dropped out of hyperspace they were all crowded in the cockpit and sighed with relief when they saw the Mandalorian battleship and no Star Destroyer.

"Keldabe battleship, this is the Razor Crest. Keldabe battleship, this is the Razor Crest. If Paz Vizsla or Tristan Wren survived the battle, please warn them their siblings are have returned," Din said looking back at Sabine who chuckled but sighed. She was not anticipating a warm welcome because of how she had left her brother, again, to manage the will of their mother.

Ahsoka held Tarre and they both had their hands out communicating with the purrgil. The whales untwisted themselves from the ships and then Sabine took over with the drone controls of the Old Republic ship.

"Razor Crest this is Tristan Wren. Clan Wren and Clan Vizsla celebrate your return. Please meet us in hangar four."

"Acknowledged," Din put the controls on autopilot and then looked up at Cara, "Looks like Karga is never gonna let you live this down. He won while you were away."

Cara rolled her eyes and half snorted.

The purrgil floated ahead of both ships headed toward the hangar.

Ahsoka marveled at the battleship, "I haven't seen one of those since the Siege of Mandalore."

Din and Sabine looked at her, "You were there?"

Ahsoka nodded, "I fought to keep Mandalore free. It was my last battle with the 501st, and I was there for Order 66. I faked my death…and disappeared."

Din was not versed on this part of history, Sabine explained, "Order 66 was the order sent to the clones by the Emperor to kill all of the Jedi on every battle field across the galaxy. It's how most of the Jedi were wiped out."

Din looked from Ahsoka to Tarre, then back up to Ahsoka, "Thank you, for defending Mandalore."

Ahsoka nodded.

The Razor Crest touched down, and Sabine brought the Republic ship to rest right next to them.

Din looked down at Tarre, "What do we owe the purrgil? I don't suppose they eat krill?"

The purrgil turned around in front of the cargo bay, and large eyes winked as they turned.

Ahsoka smiled, "They consume space and planetary gases, it's their natural fuel."

Din frowned, "So how do we thank them?"

Ahsoka and Tarre looked at each other, "We already have. Tarre has been talking to them the entire journey. They have been telling each other stories and enjoying the ride immensely."

"Will they stay?" Cara asked, but as soon as she did, they noticed the three purrgil tendrils all starting to glow and pulse, and they disappeared again into hyperspace.

"They just saw us all the way to safety. They are headed to find fuel now, and then likely home," Ahsoka said quietly.

"Well, I for one have had enough of tiny spaceship life for a while, let's get out of this ship and move into a bigger one," Cara said as she moved toward the upper hold to grab her bag.

By the time they lowered the ramp Tristan was already there, but did not take off his helmet. He walked right up to Sabine, and he put both hands on hers.

"Sister — please, don't leave for so long again," his voice was soft, not the hard warrior voice Din remembered.

Sabine frowned and looked down, "I'm sorry it took such dire circumstances for me to return. And I missed you too, Tristan."

Tristan looked up at the rest of the group, "Din Djarin, your brother is with the Armorer on the planet, but he will return soon to hear of your mission and meet our guests. He is well and rejoices at your return."

Din nodded, "Thank you, Tristan, for all that you have done for Nevarro, and House Vizsla."

Sabine turned back to her brother, "We need to talk to your weapons and engineering crew. We already have a working model for personal shielding and detection of the weapon — and it needs to be tested."

* * *

Paz arrived a few hours later and embraced Cara first, "Tell me the truth, how is he doing?"

Cara could feel Din's gaze but she did not hesitate. "He's about seventy to seventy-five percent. His primary weakness is cardiac stamina. And his leg strength is probably still at about fifty percent."

Paz smiled, "Well done, Cara. You really pushed him."

Din looked up at Paz and gave him a glare. Paz chuckled and took Tarre from Din. Tarre squealed with delight and carried him on his shoulder.

"So, the Star Destroyer escaped Nevarro with Gideon and the Dark Saber on board," Paz growled as he walked over to sit down with all of them.

"However, the Imperial Remnant has been removed from the planet, and the mission to find the Duchess records and destroy Gideon's entire archive on Mandalore was a complete success."

Din was impressed, "Clan Vizsla is victorious."

Paz nodded, "It is. However, still, to many of us it was only a partial victory without the Dark Saber," then he sighed. "And we found some bad news in the archive. There are at least three versions of the Duchess are being built, and we have only encountered one. And we can bet Gideon is planning to attack any Mandalorian that tries to keep him from Tarre-Haal. And we have no idea where the other two weapons are."

Cara shook her head, "They must be on the Star Destroyer. Was there any indication of the size or output?"

Paz shrugged, "The specs can all be sized up and down, output and range are affected by size."

"So we must still assume the weapon may be used on a large scale against Mandalore," Din surmised.

Paz nodded, "The Tribe and Karga's representative government have all voted and they agree we should stay on Nevarro to keep Gideon's focus here, and the danger away from Mandalore until we have built defenses that can protect a greater numbers. When Sabine has a viable prototype Zaral will see to mass manufacture for warriors of Mandalore who wear any beskar."

Tarre reached out and jiggled Paz' pauldron, trying to pull it loose.

"And what were you up to on this trip, Tarre-Haal? Because I can't imagine you were quiet," Paz chuckled as Tarre tried for a third time to pull off the pauldron.

They sat and talked for hours about Ahsoka's insights into Tarre-Haal's past. Cara noted, however, that Din avoided the topic of Tarre's visions, especially the Dark Saber. She decided to wait on that topic, and see if Din would come to it in his own time.

Paz looked over at Tarre and lifted a brow. "_Tarr'ika_, can you speak your thoughts in my head?"

Tarre nodded.

Paz waited, but no thoughts came, "Can you try now?"

_HUNGRY_.

Paz laughed a full belly laugh and Tarre had to grip Paz' shoulder and pauldron with his toe claws to keep from falling off. Paz reached into his hip bag and pulled out a ration bar, which Tarre happily tucked into.

"That's a poor excuse for a meal, Tarre, we will get you some meat, I promise," Paz chuckled. "In fact, let that be an appetizer, let's all go and introduce Cara to some real Mandalorian fare on this ship. You'll need to bring some back here and fuel up for tomorrow, Din. The Armorer expects you at dawn. Through her own recovery she has developed a training regimen for you. And trust me it will not be for the faint of heart."

* * *

Din ran the course for the fifth time in his full cuirass. He worked to control his breathing, and was finding more efficient ways to move with his armor through the smaller obstacles and still maintain his balance. His time was improving, and when he crossed the finish line the Armorer walked up and nodded.

"You run as if the Empire is chasing you," she said dryly.

Din bent over as he worked to catch his breath, "I need — to be — one step ahead."

"Din Djarin, you are not up to your full strength. I agree with Cara's assessment that you are barely more than three-quarter strength. I can see you hesitate, and worry about this weakness. You are not ready."

Din growled, "Well I need to be!"

The Armorer did not back down, "Why?"

"I have to be there!" Din yelled.

The Armorer was unimpressed, "WHY?"

"Because I have to be the one to —"

The Armorer would not finish his sentence for him, "To what?"

Din put his head down, "To face the Dark Saber. Tarre has had a vision. And if any of them died in my place — I don't know — what I'd do." Din dropped down to his knees, as tears mixed with sweat running down his nose and face.

The Armorer stood above him looking down, "The number of people in your care has increased significantly. I recall a time when you avoided all attachment — after your discord with your brother."

Din nodded but did not respond.

The Armorer did not let up. "You now acknowledge that you love them all? Your brother?"

"Yes."

"Cara?"

"Yes."

"Tarre-Haal?"

"Yes."

"Then you must find peace as you face your fate. Do not fear it. Embrace it. You do not need your full physical strength. Simply, show your son — the Way."

Din looked back up at the Armorer and whispered, "I will."

The Armorer nodded. "Now, you are ready."

* * *

Sabine and Cara spent their first few days on board with the engineers from Mandalore on the most efficient way to integrate the personal shields on an innumerable variations on traditional beskar armor, and still others that had more durasteel than beskar.

Paz and Tristan started work on ideas of how to outfit the battleship and at least one ground assault ship with Cara's program to find and destroy any possible model of the Duchess. And then Paz found a way to integrate the detection program into his visual readout.

Din walked into the cargo hold that Sabine and Tristan had re-fashioned into their workspace and found Paz and Cara waiting there for him and standing behind a solid barrier with narrow slits for viewing.

"Now you get to see why I requested your armor," Sabine said with a smile.

She lowered a caged Nevarro lava flats goat and Din's armor was strapped to it.

"Oh damn, I can't watch this," Cara felt nauseous remembering the smell that permeated the air after the Tribe members were vaporized.

Din, however, wanted to see proof, "Do it, now."

The arc generator whined with the same sound Din heard before he was hit, and his nerve endings prickled as the pulse was released. But then, Din heard a low pulse beat, and saw a quick flash of light just before the goat was struck with the full force of the weapon. He could not see what happened due to the smoke. The smoke cleared, and the goat was mildly stunned, but not a hair was damaged.

Then Sabine handed Din his pulse rifle. She tapped on her pad a few commands, "Loading targeting program to your visual sensor array…I will not warn you when I will fire on the animal, and I will move the arc burst source. Go!"

Sabine set off three different weapons concealed above them in the rafters, all within seconds of each other, and with the program guiding him to aim and fire — Din hit every one of them within less than seven seconds.

Cara and Paz looked at each other, visibly impressed.

"You seem more — focused," Cara said carefully.

Din turned to look at them, then turned to Sabine, "It's ready."

Sabine jumped up to high-five her brother, "I would also call that a successful trial. Ready to send these specs to Mandalore and have them run their own simulations and start mass production."

Din nodded, "And we need to fully outfit every warrior on the planet and in this ship."

Tristan added, "I will see to the programming of the targeting of all craft and weapons, while you talk to Zaral."

Sabine smiled, "On it! Let's go Cara!"

Cara started to follow Sabine but looked back at Paz who was watching Din walk back out of the cargo bay without another word.

* * *

Ahsoka practiced levitation again with Tarre, she sat with her legs crossed while Tarre levitated her up off the ground in her quarters.

_I want you to focus on clearing your mind of all distractions. Use me to channel your connection to the Force and all of its echoes and ripples._

Tarre's eyes were closed and his lips pursed as he moved Ahsoka further off the floor.

_Good. Now maintain your focus on me, and listen to my thoughts. Take me to your last vision. The one with the Dark Saber_.

Tarre frowned, but slowly Ahsoka rose higher off the floor and he began to project images into her mind.

_The Dark Saber appears out of darkness, and moves closer and closer to Mandalorian armor. The black blade scratches along the surface of the armor but it cannot cut it. A man starts to scream, the sound is distant at first, then it gets closer and closer until it fills their ears. And then a Star Destroyer rumbles so close overhead it feels as if it might ruffle their clothing._

Ahsoka feels Tarre's resolve waning, and she reaches down to touch his head.

_You've done well, young one. Now bring me down gently._

Tarre followed her instructions and then looked up at Ahsoka.

_I miss Buir._

Ahsoka smiled, _He has been very busy since we got back. But do you not sense he misses you too?_

Tarre nodded, _He is very worried — about the future._

Ahsoka nodded back,_ And about your future._

Tarre looks up at her, _Can we call him? I want to go home._

Ahsoka nodded. She walked over to her comm and turned it on, "Din Djarin, this is Ahsoka Tano. Tarre-Haal desires to see you, and I would like to speak with you."

A few seconds passed, and then Din responded, "On my way."

A short time later, Din rang the bell of her quarters and Ahsoka opened the door using the Force.

"Successful test?" She said quietly.

Din nodded, "Yes. Very. We will be starting mass production here and on Mandalore."

Tarre was already toddling toward him with his arms up. Din knelt down to his level and lifted Tarre up into a gentle hug. He had not realized until that moment how much he needed the hug himself. Sabine still had his armor so he could feel Tarre gripping his shirt and trilling against his chest. Din wondered if Tarre could feel his heart beating.

Ahsoka waited quietly while they communicated without words. Tarre moved up to Din's shoulder and they both looked back to her.

"You also wanted to speak with me?" Din said.

"Tarre has had another vision, of the Star Destroyer," Ahsoka said gravely.

Din tensed instantly, "Where? When?"

Ahsoka frowned, "Close to Nevarro."

Din stood up, "Thank you. At least we know it is coming here. Mandalore will be safe. We must prepare."

* * *

Paz arrived at Din's quarters and Din opened the door without a word.

Paz followed him in and suddenly Tarre jumped up to chest height and Paz barely caught him in his hands. He chuckled in surprise as Tarre laughed.

"_Ba'vodu_!" Tarre cried out.

Paz chuckled, "_Tarr'ika_!"

Din, however, was not laughing. Paz caught his sober demeanor and followed him to the table and sat down across from him.

"What's wrong, Din?" Paz said concerned.

Din paused, then looked back up at his son and brother. "Tarre has been having visions of my death by the Dark Saber…and so have I."

Paz set Tarre down on the table as his face fell.

"I don't know what it means, I could be just seeing his visions due to our connection. Ahsoka is advising caution in how we interpret the visions. And I believe her — but — I need to be prepared, and so do you and Tarre."

Paz looked down.

"I need you to promise me two things. One, that you will safeguard Tarre, and ensure he gets his training at the Jedi Temple — when he determines it is time to go."

Paz nodded.

"And two — that you will _not_ teach him to take revenge."

Paz lifted a brow, "What do you mean?"

Tarre sat down on the table between them looking at his _Buir_, and Din paused searching for the words.

"When he was taken by the Emperor, the Dark Force wielders tried to teach him anger, hate, and revenge. Ahsoka says that since we have shown him love, trust, and honor — that his powers in the Light have been amplified."

Din looked over at Tarre, "He is a healer. He is also a great warrior. But if he goes down that vengeful path at such a young age…I don't want him to follow the path I took. I don't want him to take out his anger on his brother. I don't want him to feel only anger because his _Buir_ is gone. I don't want him to be defined by what he has lost."

Paz frowned and nodded. "When we were young, brother, I don't think I ever expected our family would take precedence over the pain of your past, until now," his voice breaking. Paz leaned forward and clasped his hands together. "I would be honored to ensure your wishes will be respected, brother."

Tarre reached out for Paz's finger and he gripped it tightly in his tiny claws. Din smiled to himself.

"Now, I want to discuss our plan to complete our mission — and avoid getting killed," Din said wryly.

Suddenly an unexpected ring at the bell silenced them.

Din went to the door and opened it. Cara, Ahsoka and Sabine all smiled at him.

Ahsoka lifted a brow, "I had a _feeling_ you three were having a meeting without us," she looked over Din's shoulder at Tarre. Din turned back sharply to look at Tarre who smiled back at him and squeaked in greeting. Tarre had obviously decided that any planning required the whole team.

Sabine held up a fabric wrapped gift, in an effort to break the tension. "A thank you, for letting me blast your cuirass."

Din looked back at her and accepted the gift. When he put it on the table it clanked, confirming his armor was inside. He unwrapped the fabric carefully, and on top was his pauldron with the Mudhorn sigil. The pauldron, however was painted with a dozen different shades of green, including a shining green that matched Tarre's skin color perfectly on the sigil, for the Clan of Two, and highlighted just at the edges with Vizsla blue.

Tarre toddled across the table and picked up the thigh guard running his fingers over the colors, and they all looked at the beautiful work Sabine had done. Tarre put up his hand and squeaked until Din handed him the pauldron with the sigil.

Din turned back to Sabine, "Thank you, sister. This is more than I could have ever imagined."

Sabine smiled. "I assume this is was a _secret_ strategy meeting, so let's get back to planning how to destroy the Duchess forever, and get the Dark Saber back."

Ahsoka stepped forward, "Tarre and I will be coming along to safeguard the ship and get you home."

Din hesitated but as with the operation to rescue Paz, Tarre had remained safe in the ship, and he had proven helpful, so he shot Ahsoka a look but nodded.

"Good, I'm going to be monitoring the Duchess activity from command with Tristan," Sabine said.

"And I'm going with you two," Cara said lightly to Din and Paz. "Because you'll never make it without me."

* * *

Incoming ship proximity alarms went off just six hours later.

On the bridge Tristan shouted from the command chair, "Scan the ship for the two Duchess weapons!"

Sabine was at an ops position and frowned, "They are not powered up yet, nothing is showing yet."

"That's all we needed! Razor Crest, you are go!" Tristan yelled.

In the hangar bay, Din, Paz, Cara, Ahsoka and Tarre were all in the Razor Crest, and they immediately cleared the bay. They were flanked by four other fighter ships manned by Mandalorians who had Duchess detection systems.

They flew at full power towards the Star Destroyer but there was minimal resistance. Gideon's forces were obviously depleted by the last battle.

Sabine's voice came over the comm, "There she is! Their shields are down to fire the Duchess! Starboard guns! FIRE!"

The Razor Crest continued on its course and the battleship fired just as the buildup of the white energy discharge had reached critical mass and a significant portion of the starboard side of the forward section was destroyed in the blast.

The bridge erupted in celebration, but Tristan remained focused as the Razor Crest cleared the hangar bay on the Destroyer.

"Razor Crest landed," Din reported.

Ahsoka and Tarre were reaching out with the Force and Din turned to them, waiting.

Ahsoka opened her eyes, "Gideon is in his office, and Tarre can see the Dark Saber there."

Din nodded, "Thank you. We will be on comms."

Ahsoka and Tarre watched the others leave and stayed to monitor their progress from the hangar. Ahsoka looked down at Tarre.

_We must be patient, young one. The Force will guide us._

Cara, Paz, and Din made their way out of the hangar and followed their maps towards the command center.

"Ship one and two to command, Strike one, two and three on their way," Ahsoka said calmly.

Din kept his Duchess program active, as did Paz, but the third Duchess was nowhere to be seen on their path to the command center. They managed to dodge most of the patrols and their presence was apparently as yet unnoticed.

"Strike two to command, still no sign of the third weapon," Cara said quietly to her comm.

Sabine was monitoring their detection system and she hit the console with her fist, "Strike team, I'm seeing small blips all over the ship, but not one concentrated weapon! I don't understand what this means! There's no way they could be blocking my detection sensors!"

"Keep at it, command. We will change direction if you detect a target. Moving forward," Din said quietly.

"Ship one to strike one! We sense multiple targets around you!" Ahsoka's voice rang out over comms.

"Say again, Ship one, multiple targets?" Cara hissed.

"Coming up on the command center," Paz growled, and then he stopped. "TAKE COVER!"

Paz opened fire with his rapid repeating blaster, and when Din turned the corner his visual display was lit up with multiple Duchess signals in the walls, in the ceiling, and coming from a dozen storm troopers that were headed toward them. They all carried a weapon no bigger than a Death Trooper blaster, with a lower cartridge that had a high-pitched whine — another Duchess weapon that Din's and Paz' visual displays immediately targeted.

* * *

"Strike one! Report! Anyone!" Sabine yelled from the comms inside the Razor Crest.

Ahsoka stood up and Tarre hopped into his pram, "Command this is Ship one, we are going after them."

Sabine replied, "If anyone can get them out of this, I know you can, Ship one!"

Ahsoka knelt down to Tarre, "Just how we've been practicing. It's time."

Ahsoka walked down the ramp and switched off her comm as she set the pram to her proximity sensor, then she pulled out her lightsabers and jogged toward the command center with the pram right behind her.

* * *

Cara focused fire on the troopers and Paz and Din set to work knocking out the wall Duchess signals. Din hit five in a row and so did Paz, but as one set were destroyed two others powered up.

"Paz! They are going to get ahead of us! Get ready!" Din shouted.

The high pitched whine filled Din's ears just before the blast stunned him to the ground. But he did not lose consciousness, and could still hear Cara firing as she yelled at Paz and Din. Din pulled himself up and picked up his rifle and hit two more of the Duchess weapons, then Paz recovered and hit two more.

Suddenly a fresh group of troopers arrived and in their midst was Gideon. He was holding up another Duchess weapon that Din's visual display immediately targeted and stunned Din and Paz down again as Cara opened fire but it was too late, and the troopers overwhelmed them.

Din struggled as he was dragged into Gideon's office along with Cara and Paz. They were all strapped to interrogation tables, Then, Gideon walked in and dismissed the troopers.

"You came here to destroy the Duchess — and to collect this, I believe," Gideon said nonchalantly as he removed the hilt of the Dark Saber from a hook on his belt.

He walked over to Din and activated the Dark Saber and held it up between his eyes. Then he ran the blade of the saber over the edge of Din's helmet until it sparked over the cheek line.

"The Mandalorians have developed and now tested in battle a full defense against the weapon. You're finished," Din growled, while his visual display filtered the brightness of the sparks from the Dark Saber.

Then Gideon saw Din's sigil, and moved the saber down over his pauldron, scraping it up against the Mudhorn, and burning off some of Sabine's paint job.

"I've never seen the legendary resistance of beskar to lightsabers. Fascinating. Some of the qualities of the beskar which make it vulnerable to the Duchess also make it resistant to sabers. But — not _impervious_ to it."

Gideon turned the Dark Saber and stabbed it straight through Din's pauldron and sigil.

Din's scream echoed down the hall.

"STOOOP, GIDEON!" Paz roared.

Gideon pulled the Dark Saber from Din's shoulder, but paced around him like a predator.

"What did you think I was going to do, Mandalorian? Did you think I would just let you keep him?"

Gideon then stabbed Din straight through his thigh guard. Din's scream pierced their ears and then he groaned as his consciousness drifted from the pain.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE YOU COWARD!" Cara yelled dangerously.

Gideon laughed as he pulled the Dark Saber from Din's thigh, then his attention shifted — and he turned toward Cara.

Din couldn't feel his arm or his leg. He started to shake as he felt himself going into shock, and darkness clouded the edges of his vision.

Gideon walked toward Cara slowly, "I know _he_ is here. He can sense you. And he will come for you."

Paz looked up at the ceiling, and tried his best to reach out to his nephew, "TARRE! IT'S A TRAP!"

Cara laughed out loud, "If he comes for us, you can bet that _you_ won't survive!"

Gideon smiled as he moved closer, "No my dear, Carasynthia. He will be too busy trying to save you. But he will be too late. And he will be _mine_."

Gideon lifted the Dark Saber and then plunged it into Cara's chest.


	8. Chapter 16 - THE TEMPLE

CHAPTER 16: THE TEMPLE

Din's thoughts were clouded by agony, so he was barely aware of what Gideon was doing. He could hear Cara yelling but he could not focus his vision until the vibrating sound of the Dark Saber swinging reached his ears. The humming sound jarred him back into the moment just as he heard Cara exhale sharply — as the blade impaled her.

Cara's head fell back to the table and slid to the side. She fought to keep her eyes up long enough to look over at Din. Her eyelids began to fall as she searched his helmet face, she wanted just a glimpse of his eyes in her last moments of consciousness. Din stared back at her in disbelief, watching her skin go suddenly cold on the visual display thermal scan. Her lips tried to form a word, but then her eyes drifted closed, and her body sagged against the blade that had gone through her and into the table.

"CARAAAA!" Paz screamed before the cry could escape Din's mouth, because Din had no breath left.

* * *

Ahsoka looked down at Tarre as she ran, and she could see the fierce determination in his face.

_I felt her too, Tarre. You are doing well, control your anger and your fear. We are almost there_.

Ahsoka turned a corner and with two flicks of her lightsabers she blocked and redirected the blaster fire of three troopers rendering them unconscious.

* * *

Gideon turned toward Paz, "And now — for you."

Gideon pulled the Dark Saber from Cara's chest and the table behind her, causing her to sag even more against her restraints and her blood smeared over the table.

Paz looked at Din who was struggling to maintain consciousness and then at Cara, who was bleeding liberally from her chest. For a moment sheer panic gripped him, but suddenly, he remembered Din's words. Paz closed his eyes and searched deep inside himself to find a place to make peace with his fate.

"Love…trust…honor…" he reached out to his nephew, "Tarre — this is the Way…"

* * *

Tarre heard his uncle, and he tried to reach Din and Cara but they were fading too quickly from his mind to reach them, so he put a hand up as Ahsoka leapt over the fallen troopers she had just subdued in the hall outside the office.

_Ba'vodu — Buir — Cyare — trust the Force_.

* * *

Paz gasped as he felt Tarre reply and he opened his eyes and saw Gideon holding the Dark Saber above his head — and his teeth were clenched — because he was struggling to move.

The office door was open, and outside Paz could see several incapacitated troopers. Ahsoka was standing there calmly with one hand up toward Gideon and she had the former Imperial frozen in place. She watched as Tarre's pram approached Din and Cara.

_Ba'vodu — trust the Force,_ Tarre repeated.

Tarre was standing up in this pram, hovering between Din and Cara. He held both of his tiny hands up and his face completely placid as he gently lifted both of their sagging bodies up against their restraints for what seemed like an eternity. Paz was holding his breath, straining to see any sign, any movement from either of them but he saw none.

Then he heard Tarre sigh audibly, and set Din and Cara gently back down in their restraints again.

"Din? CARA?" Paz yelled. Din groaned and looked up slowly, but Cara did not move.

Tarre turned toward Paz, and with a flick of his wrist he released the restraints so that Paz could cross over to Cara before he released her restraints and she fell down into his arms. Din was released as Cara was, and struggled up off the ground then moved to Cara lifting her head up and brushing her hair back from her face.

Cara's eyes were still closed and she appeared lifeless. Din reached down to her wound and found it was completely healed, only the massive blood stain remained around the scorched tear in her suit. His visual display confirmed, she was breathing, her heart was beating, and her vitals were stable.

"She — she's alive, Paz," he choked out through his tears. He lifted Cara's forehead to his helmet and sighed deeply. Paz also felt tears burning the corners of his eyes.

Din turned and looked at Tarre, who suddenly seemed slightly taller, and he also appeared completely undiminished by the incredible act of healing he had just performed.

"_Ad'ika_, thank you," he whispered. Tarre smiled back at him.

Din turned to Paz and put a hand on his shoulder, "Go, brother. Get her back to the ship. We — will finish here."

Paz hesitated for a moment, but he trusted his brother, Ahsoka and Tarre. And he knew Din was not yet strong enough to carry anyone very far. Din lifted Cara up by holding her around the waist, then Paz knelt down and Din laid her across Paz' shoulders. Paz wrapped his right arm around her leg and his right hand gripped her hand in front. Paz grunted as he moved to standing, and then he immediately headed for the door.

Then Din and Tarre turned back to Ahsoka who still held Gideon frozen with the Dark Saber above his head. Ahsoka slowly levitated Gideon, and then rotated him around to face them.

"I can see it has been a long time since you faced a fully trained _adult_ wielder of the Force," Ahsoka said with quiet contempt.

Din looked over at Tarre who seemed to be facing his former captor with amazing calm.

"You are surprised that our Youngling is not at all drained by his efforts to save his family?" Ahsoka sighed with irritation. "Unfortunately, there are many aspects of the power of the Force you will never comprehend. Using your powers due to fear or because your Master demands it empties your life Force. Healing with love and care for the well-being of others — is a far more powerful connection to the Living Force that Tarre has only just begun to explore."

Ahsoka then dropped Gideon to the ground, "This is your one chance. Come peacefully — or we will stop you."

Gideon had struggled the entire time he was frozen, so he was breathless but now he returned to laughter.

"I know who you are Ahsoka Tano. And you may have power, but you are no _Jedi_! I have won! The Child is _MINE_!"

Gideon turned toward Tarre, who looked back at him filled the room with his thoughts.

_I have a family now. No one will ever possess me. And you — will never hurt anyone ever again._

Ahsoka spoke firmly to Gideon, "He is not the weak Youngling you so easily manipulated. You cannot defeat us. Surrender."

Gideon swept the Dark Saber around to try to clear his path to grab Tarre, Din reached out to move Tarre out of the way, but before he could move the pram Ahsoka blocked the blow with her white lightsaber throwing Gideon back several steps.

Gideon tried to swing again, and Ahsoka moved between Gideon and her friends and blocked his strike with both of her lightsabers this time pushing Gideon all the way back to the table Paz had been restrained to.

Din also took a step in front of Tarre and his hand hovered over his blaster, but he was in awe of Ahsoka's display of discipline and power in the Force. Facing a fully trained and experienced Force wielder made him wonder how the Jedi could ever have fallen. He knew that they were far beyond blasters at this point.

"You have failed, "Ahsoka said with quiet venom. "The Mandalorians have disabled your ship. Surrender."

Gideon clenched his teeth and jumped back up only to be blocked again by Ahsoka's calm face as he pushed the Dark Saber against Ahsoka's defensive stance. Then he reached for the Duchess blaster, but Tarre was faster, and levitated the blaster to Din's hand.

Din immediately broke down the weapon and found the Duchess component, he threw it on the ground and blasted it.

When the arc energy faded to nothing, Gideon finally fell to his knees, and Ahsoka levitated the Dark Saber into Din's waiting hand. Then Din handed his binders to Ahsoka and she set about restraining Gideon.

"He will serve the Empire! His power will bring us to the next Order! The Final Order!" Gideon yelled as Ahsoka dragged him out of the room.

Din looked down at Tarre and Tarre cocked his head slightly.

_No revenge, Buir. Only peace_.

Din put a hand on Tarre's back, "This is the Way."

* * *

Cara could feel a cool sheet under her hand and the smell of fresh tea and bar-b-q meat from the bazaar. She smiled to herself, Nevarro was so familiar, like and old friend. She allowed her eyes to blink twice at the sunlit room filled with warmth — instead of an office inside a ship floating in the cold of space…

She sat up straight, put a hand to her chest and pulled apart the sleeping shirt she was wearing. Her wound was gone.

For a moment she wondered if she had dreamed it all, but the pain of the Dark Saber impaling her was so fresh that it made her pectoral muscles spasm. She knew it was real — and that meant —

"TARRE? TARRE!" She yelled out throwing back the sheet.

Just as she stood up from the bed, the door slid open and Din was standing in the doorway staring at her.

"Where's Tarre? What did he _do_?" She cried, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

Tarre toddled in between Din's legs and waved at her with a squeak. Then he hopped up into her arms.

"_Cyare_!" Tarre said.

Cara hugged him a little too tightly, and then smiled down at him through tears.

"Nice try, buddy! But it's 'CAR-rah," Tarre snuggled up against her chest with his head and ears under her chin and trilled happily.

Din stepped closer to them, "No — he got it right. He called you a Mando'a word."

Din put an arm around her back and she looked up at him suddenly aware of how close he was.

"It means 'beloved'," he whispered.

Cara's tears rolled down her cheek and she rested her forehead against Din's helmet. She stroked Tarre's head against her chest and Din held them both in his arms.

* * *

After conferring with the Mandalorians, despite Din's mistrust of any justice system, they decided to contact the New Republic to process Gideon and the remaining crew of his Star Destroyer. There were too many prisoners for them to keep on Nevarro. In addition, even Din and Paz had to admit they had to advocate for extradition of Gideon to the Core, because they knew on Mandalore Gideon would be torn apart. Gideon would have to be re-tried for his war crimes as well as his current crimes, including the imprisonment of Force sensitive innocents, and a new attempt at total genocide of the Mandalorian people, and there was no way a Mandalorian court could be considered impartial.

Once the prisoners were collected by the New Republic prison ship, Din and Paz personally saw to the handoff of Moff Gideon. Din watched ship depart, and while he still felt that ultimately the New Republic was doomed to repeat the sins of the past, for the first time since he met Tarre he allowed himself to believe that the immediate threats to Tarre's future were handled.

Paz and Tristan were anxious to return to Mandalore, but Din hesitated. Paz came to visit one evening and Din knew he had an agenda. Tarre stood on the windowsill with his nose on the glass waiting, because, of course, he knew who was coming.

"Tarre, relax kid. You're getting all worked up and it's just Paz!" Din's nerves were unsettled by Tarre's bouncing and dancing around on the sill.

When Paz walked up he and Tarre made funny faces at each other in the window, smudging up the glass horribly. Tarre giggled and laughed until he fell off the windowsill and Paz rushed in to make sure Tarre was okay.

Din and Cara were sitting in the main room watching the ridiculousness going on. Cara could not contain her grin, Din, of course, was annoyed. Paz walked over and hugged Cara warmly, then smiled at Din.

"Sabine finished your armor again!" Paz grinned.

The Armorer had to reforge Din's right pauldron, sigil and thigh guard, and Sabine was not satisfied to repaint only those two pieces. She took Din's cuirass for almost a week before she was content with her work. She had continued the green shading, and elements of Vizsla blue, but had added a lot more variation to the colors. From far away it looked like one shade of green, but closer up, more tones in the color could be seen, and as Din moved the hue shifted even more.

Tarre was eager to show Paz that Sabine had added an important new detail. He toddled over from the window and hopped pointing up at Din's chest plate. Paz looked closer and realized that it was a stylized and enlarged print of Tarre's hand over Din's left chest, over his heart.

Tarre squeaked proudly a sound that could only be interpreted as, "That's me!"

Din picked up Tarre and set him on his lap and started drawing circles on his back in order to calm him down.

Paz chuckled and then sighed.

"So Tristan has set departure for two days from now. Have you guys decided?"

Cara smiled, "I'm not making that decision, this is about you three."

Din looked over at her sharply. "You have as much say in this as we do."

Cara shook her head, "No. This is about your family, your planet, and Tarre's future in your family. I need you three to hash this one out."

Din looked at Paz, then back at Cara. "Are you saying that you will come?"

Cara sighed, "I didn't say that. But I can say — that I could spend time there."

Paz frowned. "Cara, you know that's not what any of us want. The last thing we want is to leave you behind."

Tarre wiggled out of Din's grip and hopped over to Cara's lap and frowned trilling at her. Cara groaned, and piked Tarre up so he could put his head under her chin.

Paz threw his hands up. "Okay, let's just go for the celebration. Ahsoka and Sabine are going. Go for just two weeks."

Din sighed, "Fine."

Cara rolled her eyes, "This feels like a trap."

Paz chuckled. "I don't know Cara, it's a warrior culture. You may like it more than Din does."

Cara lifted a brow. "Do I need the Armorer to set me up before we leave?" She chuckled at her own joke.

Din and Paz looked at each other.

"How did you know?"

Cara looked back and forth between them. "Know what?"

* * *

The Armorer's new forge was built in a large open air compound. There was a large training square where Din had run his trials before Gideon's attack. To the right were barracks that could house over two hundred Tribe members, and to the left were washing facilities, the armory, kitchens and a forum for social activity.

Cara had not been back since the attack because they had been so busy with managing the prisoners. The Armorer had also been busy with all of the Mandalorians on the battleship who wanted her famous specialty armor work done. They had admired Din's cuirass and she had many visitors and special orders. And many of the visitors stayed for a night or two and socialized with the Tribe, thoroughly enjoying their time on Nevarro.

Cara could see several of Clan Wren laughing and talking with Tribe members some with helmets on, others without. The rapport was palpable and the atmosphere was relaxed and informal.

"Welcome, friend," Cara turned and smiled at the Armorer as she walked up to her and took Cara's arm in hers.

"Sister," Cara corrected her with a grin.

The Armorer nodded, "Sister, I hear my gift has been revealed by the indelicate brothers."

Cara laughed again, "All they said was that you had a parting gift before we leave — temporarily."

The Armorer took Cara's arm, "Temporarily? What do you mean?"

Cara shrugged as the Armorer led her toward the forge, "I get the impression that Mandalore — doesn't suit Din very well."

The Armorer sighed, "Many things do not suit Din Djarin. And yet he must learn to change."

Cara chuckled as the Armorer dropped her arm and headed toward the shelves covered in pieces of armor. She retrieved a beskar chest plate that had been set aside and brought it over to Cara.

"Sabine of Clan Wren insisted on completing the artwork before I could present it to you."

Cara felt tears forming at the corner of her eyes as she ran her fingers over the metal. Sabine had incorporated the teal from her tactical gear, and meshed it with the greens of Din's cuirass. She finished it off with the same stylized handprint of Tarre, but on her chestplate the handprint was over the location of where the Dark Saber had impaled her.

"I felt it was time that the Tribe contributed armor to your protection, as you have done so much to protect us," the Armorer's voice softened. "And due to your injury, the chest plate was the appropriate first piece."

Cara looked back up at the Armorer and whispered, "Thank you, sister."

The Armorer nodded. "I will add more over time, whether you stay on Mandalore or not," she added slyly.

Cara looked at her friend, "Why do you not return?"

The Armorer in her golden helmet, held her gaze for a few moments, "I have nothing to return to. All was lost in the Purge."

Cara's brow creased, "But Zaral called you her oldest friend… and she is the head of House Vizsla."

The Armorer put a hand on Cara's arm, "Some wounds are too deep, and the daily reminder is …too much to bear."

Cara nodded, putting a hand over the Armorer's. "Will you tell me the story, some day?"

The Armorer regarded her for a few moments, "Perhaps, some day." Then she motioned toward the armory, "Come, let us fit your doublet with clasps to hold your armor, the battleship leaves tonight."

Cara allowed the Armorer to busy herself with outfitting Cara and they embraced before she left that afternoon. Cara walked home wearing her new chest plate, which at once felt heavy and embracing. She understood for the first time why armor was such a significant part of what made a person a Mandalorian.

She passed by Karga's building, stopped for a moment and smiled to herself, then walked in.

"Carasynthia! I just saw Mando — and speaking of which look at you!" He pointed to her new beskar. He leaned in, "You two better not be sneaking off. I'm the _only_ one who gets to officiate you two —"

Cara put a hand up, "Don't get any ideas. It was a thank you gift from the Armorer. That's all."

Karga chuckled, "OK, fine, I get it." He reached out and took her hands. "Please, come back some day. Nevarro will be desolate without you both."

* * *

On the four-day trip to Mandalore there were several hyperspace jumps and plenty of time for Cara to catch up with Ahsoka who was continuing her lessons with Tarre. They practiced with Cara more than Din on reducing Tarre's chatterbox thought to manageable conversations. Din would just get overwhelmed and shut down completely and Tarre would get frustrated with him because Din could not keep up.

Ahsoka's patience with Tarre was impressive, and Cara watched her as an example of how to manage Tarre better.

Din and Sabine were busy with finishing the augmentation of the shield pieces for all beskar armor. Sabine was obsessed with turning the shields into pieces of art, and Din wanted the shields to appeal to all Mandalorians with armor so he offered to help. Sabine started to feel more confident about the possibility of a future that would allow Mandalorians to fight without fear that her creation will annihilate her people.

Paz and Tristan were often occupied with Clan business and were in holographic meetings with the leadership of Mandalore. Cara did not take an interest in what was being discussed in these meetings but she could not help but wonder if Din would be eventually caught up in such matters.

One evening Cara was walking with Tarre through one of the truly beautiful viewing window areas of the ship where in hyperspace one could sit in a reclined chair and contemplate the systems that were flying past, when Paz caught up to them.

"I was looking for you two! _Tarr'ika_!" Tarre jumped up almost to face level and Paz caught him before Tarre could grab his nose. He tickled Tarre ruthlessly and then motioned for Cara to join him on the reclining chairs.

"I'm sorry I tracked you guys down like this but I needed to ask you something," Paz confessed. "Did you know the Armorer asked Din to be the next leader of the Tribe?"

Cara sat up and blinked at Paz, "No. Neither of them mentioned it to me." She thought back, "The Armorer made a comment to me about how many things don't suit Din, but I thought she was referring to how he handles his friendship with me…"

Paz lifted a brow, "Friendship? Really, Cara?"

Cara rolled her eyes at Paz, "Not officially anything more than that, Paz. And to be honest, I'm pretty comfortable with that right now. Let's not make it any more complicated."

Paz put his hands up, and smiled, returning to the initial topic. "Well, Zaral is not exactly happy with the Armorer. She sees Din as second in line after me — which of course Din is not happy with."

Cara nodded, "So what happens if Din walks away?"

Paz shrugged, "Nothing, I won't disown him, and I'm the oldest living member of our immediate family in the Clan. But the implications for House Vizsla could be — significant."

Cara's brow creased, "But couldn't Tristan or someone of Clan Wren take over?"

Paz nodded, "And he has more than earned it. But Zaral, of course, doesn't like that." He chuckled. "None of this will help my case to get Din to stay, of course." Paz reached out and took Cara's hand as Tarre crawled up to his shoulder. "I had hoped that the only person I had to convince was you. But now — I understand there's even more conflict going on inside his helmet."

Cara smiled, "Paz, he would never leave you again."

Paz wobbled his head and grimaced, "Would he save my ass again, of course. But would he save me from Clan politics…?"

Cara chuckled, "Point taken."

"Okay, _Tarr'ika_, you're pulling my ear off now, time to come down," Tarre had been trying to climb up on Paz' head for a better view of the widows but his foot claws were pulling Paz' ear.

He looked down at Tarre and smiled, "Is it time for bed? Was this a walk to tire out this guy before bedtime? Maybe _Ba'vodu_ should take on bedtime duties today?"

Cara made a sweeping arm gesture as an invitation for _Ba'vodu_ to take over. The three of them happily returned to their quarters for bath and bedtime.

* * *

Din adjusted his thigh guard again. The new one did not hit his leg comfortably despite several modifications. Everyone kept telling him he must have scar tissue from the Dark Saber, but he knew that Tarre's healing power did not leave any scars. The muscle stretched and moved as it should, and the bone was sound. In fact, Tarre had returned him to full health. He was stronger than he had been since the first battle with Gideon. But for some reason, after hours of wear, every day he had to massage his leg.

He re-clasped the guard once again, then leaned back against the wall, and his gaze drifted back over to the Dark Saber which sat on his table. It seemed to be calling to him. He walked over and picked it up.

The weight of it always surprised him, and the hilt while very cubic and sharp, seemed to mold into the hand of the holder. Metal was a living element, it reacted to its environment and reshaped to adapt to the forces acting on it. Din wished his thigh guard would adapt to his leg as quickly.

He activated the Dark Saber and held it up. He was to return the Saber to Zaral that morning for safe keeping in the House of Vizsla. He was happy that it would not be going to a politician. He did not know how big Tarre would grow, but he hoped Tarre might hold it — one day.

A knock came at the door.

"Din, are you playing with the Dark Saber in there when your brother has been pacing out here worrying that we will be late for the transport to the Clan celebration?"

Din quickly turned off the Saber, slipped his helmet on, and pressed the button to open the door to his room.

He shrugged at Cara, but did not reply to her challenge. He then walked past her as she glared, and Tarre jumped up into his arms as Paz fixed him with a wide-eyed stare.

"Let's go," Din said simply.

Paz tossed a glance back at Cara who rolled her eyes and then he put on his helmet and followed Din and Tarre.

They boarded the transport just in time and were joined by Tristan, Sabine and Ahsoka. Tarre immediately jumped up to sit next to Ahsoka and started chattering away with her. Paz sat next to Tristan and Sabine to discuss the days festivities. Cara sat next to Din and took another shot.

"What is _up_ with you?" She whispered harshly.

"It's nothing," Din replied simply.

Cara sighed. "Listen, I'm not going to make any decisions for you. You are an adult, and so am I. We can each make our own choices."

Din nodded, "Yeah."

Cara leaned in, "So be a damn adult, and just make a choice. You're gonna break someone's heart no matter what you choose to do. So get on with it, buddy."

Then Cara got up and walked over to Ahsoka and Tarre, he was levitating Ahsoka's activated lightsabers and while Ahsoka was unafraid it made Cara nervous.

Din looked out the window of the transport as it exited the hangar. Mandalore loomed below but as they approached he saw more activity, ships, trade, and signs of civilization than he had ever seen in his life. There was hope, it seemed, after the Galactic Empire.

* * *

Din remained as silent and posed as a statue through the entire celebration. The celebration was a hero's welcome and a demonstration of their hope in the future without fear of the Duchess. But Din spoke with very few people, he did not eat, he did not dance, he did not clap for the performers.

The one moment in the entire day when Din softened slightly, was when Din, Cara, Tarre, Paz, Zaral, Tristan, Sabine and Ahsoka met with Kor-Kayan who had taken his place as the head of Clan Kryze. He was only just recovering from his years on the prison ship, but he could not escape whispers of people who desired him to take office. Din felt for him. He handled ceremony without pomp quite well, and as one of the most prominent prisoners they had liberated, he bestowed on all of them medals for their valor in the fight against tyranny.

Ahsoka, it seemed, knew Kor-Kayan well. They embraced and spoke for quite some time after the medal presentation. She brought him over to speak with Din, Paz, Tarre and Cara.

Paz shook his hand first, as the head of their family and Clan Vizsla, but Kor-Kayan was there to speak to Din.

"Din Djarin, of Clan Vizsla, I am happy to finally speak with you. I was in no state to converse on the prison ship. I am eternally grateful for your rescue. A medal does not seem enough of a reward."

Din bowed slightly. "Thank you, Kor-Kayan of Clan Kryze, but I was just doing my duty." Din would normally stop there, but suddenly felt the need to add, "I'm glad to see you are recovering well."

Cara turned toward them, "How do you know Ahsoka?"

Kor-Kayan smiled at Ahsoka, "Ahsoka taught me and my friends at the Academy how to bring down corrupt governments."

Ahsoka laughed, "Korkie was a great student."

Cara smiled, "Korkie?"

Korkie laughed, "A corruption of _Kor'ika_, my Aunt's favorite name for me." Sadness crept into his eyes but he continued to smile, "She was like a mother to me." He brightened, "As was my other aunt, Bo-Katan, who I know Clan Vizsla revered. I hope that in our new bright future our Clans may continue to honor each other."

Din put out his arm to Korkie, and he took it, "This is the Way."

Korkie nodded, "This is the Way."

Paz put a hand on both of their shoulders and smiled.

* * *

Din wandered the compound, following his instinct looking for Tarre. Everyone he asked, it seemed, had seen Tarre, but no one knew exactly where he was. For the hundredth time, Din considered putting a tracking device on the kid. He kept his heart rate down, he knew Tarre was safe and indoors, but he kept slipping away more and more and Din knew it was purposeful. Tarre was trying to gain some measure of independence, but Din was not quite ready for that. After all, Tarre was only fifty.

Din reached out again, and something told him to turn into the gardens.

"Tarre? Are you out here?" Din could not remove all irritation from his voice.

A voice called out, "Over here, Din Djarin."

Din followed the pathway through the trees to a clearing where Ahsoka, Korkie and Tarre were all sitting with legs crossed, meditating.

Ahsoka moved over so Din could sit between her and Tarre.

"Sit. Meditate," Ahsoka said calmly.

Din put his hands up, "I was just looking for —"

"Sit, Din Djarin. _Meditate_," Ahsoka said firmly.

Din knew that tone, he sat down, but did not know where to start with meditating.

"Your mind is full. Begin with emptying yourself," Ahsoka said quietly.

"But, how —"

"_Empty_, yourself," she repeated.

Tarre opened an eye, and gave Din a disapproving squeak.

Din had a mind to grab the kid by one of his giant ears and drag him back to their rooms. But he forced himself to put his hands down on his knees and begin to let his many worries drop out of his mind.

Paz he was not worried about. He would find someone else to inherit House Vizsla, even if Zaral did not approve.

Zaral he was not worried about, she would have opinions, but would let Paz handle Clan Vizsla business.

The Armorer he worried about, and felt the most indebted to. And she was quite close with Cara.

Karga he worried about. The man needed allies, and he was making a legitimate go of trying to re-establish order and some semblance of democracy with the Tribe.

Cara he always worried about. He needed her, he needed her presence, he needed her skill, he needed her wisdom, and he just needed _her_. So he wanted to make choices that she would agree with so she would find it easy to be there for Tarre — and him.

And Tarre he constantly worried about. He could see Tarre thriving in both Nevarro and Mandalore. But Din could see Tarre making more friends on Mandalore, and having a longer lasting family connection there. The family connection would be there as people with shorter lifespans passed on, each generation would come up behind the previous one to keep Tarre company, and continue to guide and safeguard him.

The only other choice was the Temple. The Temple had loomed in his dreams lately. In those dreams it was a temple almost engulfed in an endless jungle world where the jungle was constantly threatening to overtake the stone walls. Din could almost smell the jungle flora, and felt that all he had to do was reach out to touch it…

"The Temple — you have seen it?" Ahsoka said suddenly.

Din opened his eyes and took a breath, then turned to look at her. "In my dreams. But I assumed Tarre was projecting the images to me."

Ahsoka nodded, "Tarre has been seeing the Temple for years. Long before he met you. When did you start seeing it?"

Din shrugged, "After we were hit by the Duchess, I think."

Ahsoka blinked, "Well, Din Djarin, the Force may have already given you both the answer to your question."

"The answer is, it's time for Tarre to go to the Temple?" Din shook his head, he was not ready, it couldn't be time yet. "You said he was too young!"

Ahsoka put a hand on his shoulder, "No, he is too young to train. But a thought occurred to me. The Temple contains more than just the Jedi training. It contains vast knowledge. Including, possibly, Master Yoda's home planet, and Tarre's. It may be time for you to introduce him to the Master there, and seek that knowledge. That way, Tarre will know the way when it's time for him to return to the Temple, and he might be able to gain some information, if he ever desires to revisit his past. Once you are at the Temple, the Force will guide you on where to go next."

Din looked down at Tarre, and he smiled a toothy grin back up at him.

"Thank you, Ahsoka," he turned back to her. "What will you do?"

Ahsoka smiled and closed her eyes again, "I will wait here — until Sabine is ready to take up our mission again."

Korkie chuckled, "Which hopefully will never happen."

Ahsoka smiled but did not open her eyes.

Din nodded, and Tarre had toddled up to his knee. Din boosted Tarre up to his shoulder, then stood up and quietly left the garden.

* * *

"Coming up on Yavin! What are you two doing back there?" Cara said with exasperation.

Din appeared at the door of the cockpit tense and irritated.

"Playing keep away with my blaster apparently. If he levitates it out of my reach one more time —"

"Okay, sorry I asked — landing sequence initiated," Cara mumbled. "You know he just starts messing with you when he's nervous."

Din turned sharply to look at her from the ops position, "As if I'm _not_ nervous?"

Cara sighed, and tuned him out. Din was a man of few words, but wind him up and suddenly he had many.

When they had landed, they found Tarre sitting on Din's sleeping bench and playing with his silver ball.

Tarre looked up at both of them with sad eyes and his ears completely folded, _I'm not staying, right Buir?_

Din shook his head and sighed, "No, I'm not ditching you here because you stole my blaster."

Cara smiled, "No, we are just going to introduce you to the Master. You'll have a conversation, and then after we try to locate your home world in the Archive, we'll go on our way."

Tarre turned his silver ball over in his hands again, and then put it down on his blue blanket. Then he hopped down and hopped completely out of the ship, skipping the ramp. He toddled a few steps forward and looked up at the imposing forest and the looming structure of the stone temple.

He looked back at Din and Cara, _I can feel the Force here. Can you?_

Din shook his head no. "Go ahead and explore. We will catch up to you."

Tarre hopped toward the Temple.

Din turned back to Cara, "You realize this could turn into a journey to his home planet? If that's what he wants."

Cara smiled and put a hand on the cheek ridge of his helmet, "I'm in."

Cara turned and jogged forward to catch up with Tarre. Din went back to close the ramp of the Razor Crest so that the jungle creatures could not take interest in their food stores, and then he followed them — into the Temple.


End file.
